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THE STILL-HUNTER 



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Always Alert. 



THE STILL- HUNTER 



BY 



THEODORE S. VAN DYKE 

Author of '^ Southern California" " Game Birds at Home* 
" The Rifle, Rod, and Gun in California" etc. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 
BY CARL RUNGIUS AND THE AUTHOR 



Weto Hark 
THE MACMH^LAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 
All rights reserved 



s K20 

i ^ 13 



Copyright, 1882, 
By JOHN C. VAN DYKE. 

Copyright, 1904, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



First published elsewhere. New Edition, with illustrations, 
published February, 1904 ; March, 1912 ; February, 1913. 



^' 



o 



NortjjaoB Press 

Jf. S, Cashing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Oo. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



PREFACE TO ILLUSTRATED 
EDITION. 

" The Still-Hunter " is written from experience ac- 
quired in hunting deer made extremely wild from contin- 
uous still-hunting by Indians, wolves, and a few white 
hunters who paid no more attention to the law. At any 
time of the year a deer was liable to be surprised. The 
effect was to develop to the highest degree those senses 
that are naturally acute enough to keep the novice won- 
dering why he does, not see a deer where tracks are 
plenty. / 

The very short open season and perfect freedom from 
annoyance that mark the present age, with the increased 
number of people camping on their range without harming 
them, will make deer extremely tame — in many cases so 
absurdly so that they will not be worth hunting. For it 
is not the number of the hunters, but the incessant nature 
of the persecution, that most affects the watchfulness of 
this game. To many the caution taught in this book will 
therefore seem overdrawn. But if deer continue worth 
hunting at all, the greater care will not only insure the 
best results, but bring the greatest pleasure in securing 
those results. You can afford to be careless only when 
lack of time forbids care. 



Vl PREFACE TO ILLUSTRATED EDITION. 

The fact that this edition is illustrated must not mislead 
the reader into ignoring the advice given in the text about 
taking his ideas of hunting from pictures. Those in this 
edition are no exception to the rule. Those by Mr. 
Rungius are from the standpoint occasionally reached by 
the most finished skill, and so intensely satisfactory after 
long and careful work. 

Those by the author are maps or diagrams rather than 
pictures, and are from the standpoint he knows too well 
the novice is bound to occupy. They are an attempt to 
give him what he most needs to know and what perplexes 
him the longest, — a vital conception of the cold reality 
that takes the place of the bright rainbow of expectation. 
He wants to know, above all else, why it is he cannot even 
see a deer. He can understand why he may miss one — 
but the idea of not evefi seeing one, at any distance, even far 
out of shot, is something he never dreamed of. 

Consider that about one hundred men are annually 
killed in the United States by mistake for a deer, — some- 
thing that happens in no other country, and with no other 
game even here. How could this be if pictures of hunt- 
ing bore any resemblance to the reality ? Why, it simply 
could not. If it did, it could not be a picture ; for it 
would need too much study with a lot of explanation. 
When the requirements of art cut it down to a mere pleas- 
ing effect, such as every true picture must be, it is so 
simple as to be a positive hindrance to the novice who 
takes his ideas from it. It makes him waste his time 
looking for deer in full outline in nice open places, while 
many a spot or mere shade, in the very places where he 



PREFACE TO ILLUSTRATED EDITION. vii 

does not look, slips away without his suspecting its exist- 
ence. 

The sketches by the author are no exception to the 
warning he has given. In many of them the deer is still 
several times too large, small as it is. The reason is that 
a deer, as generally seen on the ground where you should 
be looking for him, would be invisible in a picture the size 
of this page, even if taken with the finest camera, selected 
light, and time exposure. If standing beside the man 
with the rifle, a novice would seldom see the deer at which 
he was aiming, unless it were in motion. And even the 
expert will fail so often that, when he sees a comrade raise 
the rifle, he stands perfectly still, instead of craning his 
neck or moving in any way to see it. He knows the 
chances are so many against his seeing it, and the danger 
of the deer's running at the slightest motion are so great, 
that he patiently awaits the result of the shot without try- 
ing to see the game. 

In order to make the game visible at all, I have had 
to leave off most all the timber and much of the brush. 
The novice has only to imagine it back again to see how 
his troubles are increased. It is a sound rule of art that 
the background must not compete in interest with the 
figures. But in the picture you have to consider with the 
rifle on your shoulder the background does compete, and 
nearly all the time is the victor. A picture must be all 
unity and simpUcity. But in the gallery where Nature 
hangs her pictures of the deer all is complexity and diver- 
sity, even on the most open ground on which you are 
likely to hunt. The background is the picture; man and 



viii PREFACE TO ILLUSTRATED EDITION, 

deer are mere needles in a haystack. If such a picture 
could be comprehended at a glance, the hunter would be 
but a vulgar butcher, without the excuse of the profes- 
sional butcher at the shambles. Any representation of it 
that could be taken at a glance would have no instructive 
value, though it might be highly pleasing as a work of 
art. The fact that it is so puzzling is all that makes still- 
hunting the deer such a great attraction for so many who 
care nothing for much larger game. And when you have 
so far mastered it as to get an occasional view, such as 
Mr. Rungius has given, you will say it is the deepest and 
most enduring of all the charms the land beyond the pave- 
ment has to offer. 

T. S. VAN DYKE. 
November, 1903. 



CONTENTS. 



FAGB 



CHAPTKR 

I. Introduction 7 

II. To find Good Hunting-ground i6 

III. Examining the Ground, Signs, etc 24 

IV. The Senses of the Game and Hunter 38 

V. The Daily Life of Deer and Antelope 5° 

VI. Looking for Deer that are on Foot 58 

VII. Looking for Deer Lying Down 73 

VIII. The First Sight of Game 86 

IX. The First Shot at a Deer 99 

X, Running time '^^3 

XL Hunting on Snow 122 

XII. The Surest Way to Track Deer when very Wild 135 

XIII. Tracking on Bare Ground 145 

XIV. Still-hunting on Open Ground 156 

XV. Deer on Open Ground 167 

XVI. A Day in the Table-lands 176 

XVII. Another Kind of Open Ground 192 

XVIII. The Still-hunter's Cardinal Virtue 204 

XIX. Hunting in the Open and in Timber Combined 214 

XX. Subordinate Principles 222 

XXI. Two or more Persons Hunting in Company. Hunt- 
ing on Horseback 232 

XXII. Special Modes of Hunting. The Cow-bell and Tiring 

Down Deer 242 

XXIII. Deer in Bands. General Hints, etc 248 



CONTENTS. 

XXIV. To Manage a Deer when Hit 258 

XXV. The Rifle on Game at Rest 271 

XXVI. The Rifle on Moving Game 282 

XXVII. The Rifle on Moving Game (continued) 297 

XXVIII. Long-range Shooting at Game 311 

XXIX. The Effect of Recoil upon Shooting 321 

XXX. The Killing Power of Bullets. Explosive, Expan- 
sive, and other Bullets. Slit Bullets, Buckshot, 

etc 329 

XXXI. The Hunting-rifle, and Flight of Balls 344 

XXXII. The Sighting of Hunting-rifles 351 

XXXIII. The Loading, Care, and Management of Rifles. . . 367 

XXXIV. Moccasins, Buckskin, etc. Advice. Conclusion. . . 379 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Always Alert Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

No matter how carefully you may hunt, a deer often 
keeps a little gulch handy into which one jump makes 
him safe . . ...... 22 

In trying to catch deer at water, the water is generally 
the last place you should inspect. They are more 
likely to be watching from high ground. These deer 
are several times too large. See Preface to illustrated 
edition ........ 34 

** Didn't see a deer all day." Showing the power of a 
deer's nose. Man is much too large. This can 
happen with man half a mile away. See Preface to 
illustrated edition ...... 40 

** Has a deer a sixth sense?" If you hunt much, you 
will ask yourself that question many times ; for this 
can happen with the wind blowing from the deer to 
you, and the sound of your feet deadened by snow . 48 

You cannot be afield too early. That big buck is already 
on his way to lie down for the day, where you would 
probably never find him. Small as he is, this deer 
is still much too large. See Preface to illustrated 
edition . . . . . . . .52 

This man is going too fast to see well, so that the deer 
has his advantage, of being at rest while the other 
party is moving, greatly increased ... 60 

8 



4 ILL USTRA TIONS. 

PACING PAGE 

Leaving an Empty Bed . . . « . .76 

Here is a good chance for a standing shot lost by going 

through that brush instead of around it , . . 92 

Too Slow . . . . . . . .104 

** How did he know I was coming ? " , . .124 

One of the many reasons why deer are hard to see . 140 

The deer is alarmed. The first shot must be a sure 
one. Yet you must be as steady as if only trying 
your rifle at a target . . . . . .158 

Your difficulties are vastly increased by timber. You 
should have been on the ridge. Now his loss is cer- 
tain, whereas you might have had a chance if on high 
ground . . . . . . . .164 

A situation that no care can prevent. The deer will be 
just out of sight as you are ready to shoot, and you 
will see him no more to-day . . . .178 

A deer skulking in brush. He knows they cannot sec 
him, and when they come too near, he moves slowly 
and silently out of the way, with head down like a 
cow. In brushy country deer are quite certain to 
play you this trick — the hardest of all to circumvent. 
It is common to get within a few feet of them and 
never know it except by their tracks . . .190 

You should keep your ears open as well as your eyes. 
This man would not have seen the deer, because 
going to the right ; but he heard the faint cracking of 
brush up the hill . . . . . .196 

A fine bit of work resulting in a good shot. This man 
was tracking this deer on the hillside where the deer 
is, but knowing the brush would make him too diffi- 
cult to see from that side, he left the trail and crossed 



ILL US TRA TIONS. 5 

FACING FAGB 

over to where he could get a good view of the 
hillside ........ 206 

Here is a nice close shot. Yet if you don't hold ahead 
and low down, you will miss. Now is the proper 
time to pull the trigger, just as the deer starts on the 
downward curve . . . . , .212 

There are times when speed of fire is your only chance, 

as when a deer is surging through high chaparral . 220 

These chaps are on the track of this deer, and both 
together when they should have separated and gone 
along the sides of the hill as soon as they found he had 
gone down the point. But it was better walking on 
the ridge ........ 234 

Water gives you an advantage by reducing the area to be 

scanned, but it gives the game precisely the same aid 252 

The constant change in the up-and-down motion of a 
deer is worse than the forward speed or the numerous 
twists, but even where you are depending on speed of 
fire, you must keep cool. These deer are not over 
one hundred yards away, but they will puzzle the 
best expert ....... 260 

Here is a chap who threw away a good standing shot by 
squeezing through that brush to get a rest on that rock. 
Always shoot off-hand, is a good rule . . .278 

Hard to Approach ....... 290 

My new repeater. Fifteen shots, almost any one of which 
would have got the game had I had but one shot. 
Speed of fire is a good servant, but a bad master . 308 

A Good Shot ....... 364 



THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 



Still-hunting, the most scientific of all things 
pertaining to hunting, has hitherto been almost con- 
fined to the backwoodsman or frontiersman, and has 
been little enjoyed by those born and reared at any 
distance from facilities for learning practically the 
ways of the wild woods and plains. Thousands of 
our best shots with the shot-gun are men born and 
bred in the city. But of the thousands who enjoy 
the still-hunt the majority are backvv'oodsmen. One 
great reason of this is that the art is one requiring 
for proficiency more life in the forest than the aver- 
age city man can spend there. But another great 
reason has been the almost utter lack of any informa- 
tion or instruction upon the subject. For this, the 
greatest and most important branch of the whole art 
of hunting has, I may safely say, been totally neg- 
lected by the great body of writers upon field-sports. 
Most attempts in that line have been like "The Deer- 
Stalkers" of Frank Forrester — a short fancy sketch, 
not intended to convey any in.struction. And where 
the subject has been touched upon at all in works 



8 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

on hunting, the information given has been so ex- 
tremely general in its nature and form of expression, 
and so utterly lacking in qualifications and excep- 
tions quite as essential as the rules themselves, that 
*o a beginner in the woods it is of little more use 
than the maps in a child's atlas are to a tourist. 
Consequently he who would single-handed and alone 
outgeneral the bounding beauties of the forest and 
plain, and with a single ball trip their wily feet, is 
nearly always compelled to work out his own knowl- 
edge of how to do it. And this he must generally 
do, as I had to do it, by a long series of mortifying 
failures. 

I have spent too many days alone in the depths of 
the forest primeval and on the mountain's shaggy 
breast not to know full well that printed precepts are 
poor substitutes for Nature's wild school of object- 
teaching. Yet from that same life I have learned 
another thing quite as true ; namely, that while in- 
struction cannot carry one bodily to the desired goal, 
it can nevertheless clear the road of hundreds of 
stumps and fallen logs, cut away a vast amount of 
tangled brush, and bridge many a Serbonian bog. 

Not without hesitation have I undertaken to ex- 
plore this "dark continent" of the world of field- 
sports. At this day a writer upon almost any other 
subject has the roads, paths, blaze-marks, and charts 
of a dozen or more explorers before him. I have 
nothing to follow ; the only work upon deer, that of 
Judge Caton, thorough and fine as it is, deals only 
-vith the anatomy, physiology, and natural history of 
deer; all those habits which it \z essential for the still- 
hunter to thoroughly understand being as much be- 
yond the scope of his work as the part he has treated 



IN TROD UC TION. 9 

of is beyond the scope of this work. The same is the 
case with the part upon rifles and shooting ; nearly 
everything in print on the subject pertaining only to 
target-rifles and target-shooting. Besides this dearth 
of pioneers to clear the road, the habits of large game 
generally, and of deer especially, vary so much with 
climate, elevation, and character of country, quality, 
distribution, and quantity of food, amount and nature 
of the disturbance to which the game may be sub- 
jected, and other causes, that there can be no man 
who thoroughly understands still-hunting in every 
part of the United States. Moreover, the deer is so 
irregular in some of its movements, so difficult to 
observe closely, and so quick to change many of its 
habits after a little persecution or change in methods 
of hunting, that it is not probable that any one per- 
son thoroughly understands the animal even in any 
one State. And I have heard the very best and oldest 
hunters of my acquaintance say that they were con- 
tinually learning something new about deer. But 
there is still enough that is both universal and cer- 
tain to carry the learner over far the greater part of 
the difficulties and save him many an aching limb 
and sinking heart. 

To impart this is, however, no easy task for any 
one. Unfortunately those who best know in practice 
the rules of hunting are almost necessarily deficient 
in power to lay out and finish in the details a treatise 
on a subject so extensive and recondite. The "old 
hunter" to whom the learner must now resort for his 
advice knows practically a great deal ; but between 
what he knows and what he can or will tell there is a 
difference as wide as it is provoking. Even if he were 
never so well disposed to impart his knowledge, it 



10 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

would require at least fifty long and elaborate lec- 
tures of several hours each for him to do so in his 
language. Moreover, the average " old hunter" or 
Leatherstocking is full of wrong theories, which he 
either does not follow in the field or, if he does, he 
succeeds in spite of them by virtue of his other quali- 
fications. The stock of nonsensical theories held by 
the old-time country " old hunter" with the old single 
shot-gun is nothing to the mass of absurdities that a 
very successful old Leatherstocking can dispense on 
the subject of deer-hunting, rifles, and rifle-shooting. 
So that unless constantly by his side in the field — a 
thing to which any good hunter will seriously object 
— the beginner can learn little from him. I have had 
to work out almost every particle of my information 
from a mine of stubborn ore. And I flatter myself 
that I can save to those who will take the pains to 
study — not merely read — this work, at least two thirds 
of the labor, vexation, and disappointment through 
which I was compelled to flounder; though I started 
in with keen eyes, tireless feet, unflagging hope, and 
years of experience in all branches of hunting with 
the shot-gun, beginning even in childhood. 

To be exhaustive without being exhausting is one 
of the most delicate tasks ever set a didactic writer. 
To avoid being tedious I have intentionally omitted — 

ist. All that part of the natural history and habits 
of our game which does not bear directly upon the 
question of how to find and shoot it ; such as its 
birth, nurture, growth, and shedding of horns, all of 
which may be found in other and better books — such 
as Judge Caton's. 

2d. A large mass of vague and unreliable theories 
held about hunting and shooting even by successful 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

hunters. We are never so wise as when we know what 
it is that we do not know. There are many movements 
of game that it is impossible to reduce to rule, in 
which the animal seems governed only by the caprice 
of the passing moment. As there are doctors who 
will never admit ignorance upon any point, but will 
explain to you at once, like the physicians Cn the plays 
of Moliere, the efficient causes of the most slippery 
phenomena, so there are hosts of hunters who have 
ever on their tongue's end an exact explanation of 
every movement of a deer. Agreeing with Sir Wil- 
liam Hamilton that " contented ignorance is better 
than presumptuous wisdom," I have omitted all such 
dubious theories. 

3d. Everything that can be safely intrusted to the 
beginner's common-sense ; though I have been cau- 
tious about presuming too much upon this. 

The art of still-hunting deer carries with it nearly 
the whole art of still-hunting other large American 
game. As a good and accomplished lawyer has only 
a few special points of practice to learn in transplant- 
ing himself from State to State, so the thorough still- 
hunter will go from deer to antelope, elk, or other 
game, already equipped with five sixths of the knowl- 
edge necessary to hunt them. And this very knowl- 
edge will, as it does in the case of the lawyer, enable 
him to learn the rest in one fourth of the time in 
which a beginner could do it. Consequently a large 
portion of this work applies to antelope also without 
special reference. 

It is a common idea that shooting game with a rifle 
does not call for a very high degree of skill with it, or 
for very much knowledge of the principles of shoot- 
ing. That considerable game is killed by very ordi- 



12 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

nary shooting is true. But it is equally true that as 
much game is lost by bad shooting as by bad hunt- 
ing. And it is quite as true that bad shooting is 
as much due to downright, solid ignorance of the 
rifle, the principles of projectiles, and the use of the 
rifle in the field as distinguished from its use at the 
target, as to nervousness, excitement, want of prac- 
tice, and all other causes put together. The extent 
of this ignorance, even among very successful hunters, 
is amazing ; their success being due to their good 
hunting, energy, and perseverance, and in spite of 
their poor shooting. I therefore deem a treatise on 
the hunting-rifle : and its use in the field an indispens- 
able part of any work on still-hunting. And since 
this information cannot be found to any valuable ex- 
tent in any other work on shooting that I have seen, 
I have treated the subject quite fully, omitting how- 
ever, out of regard for the reader's patience, much 
that can be trusted to his intelligence and much that 
may be found in works on the rifle and on target- 
shooting. 

It is to be expected that many hunters, and good 
ones too, will differ from many of my views. Among 
even the best and most intelligent sportsmen there is 
much disagreement on even the simplest points. It 
is therefore vain for any one to expect indorsement 
upon every point from the man who declares that a 
gun is safest with the hammer resting on the cap ; 
who thinks a slow twist makes a "slow ball," a quick 
twist a "quick ball," a gain twist a "strong ball;" 
who sincerely believes that his rifle shoots on a level 
line for two hundred yards ; who talks of putting a 
ball in the heart of a running deer at three hundred 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

/ards as a matter of course, and discourses about 
knocking a deer down "in his tracks" as he would 
knock down a cabbage-head with a club. It is also 
impossible for any writer upon field-sports to avoid 
occasional mistakes. There are others, doubtless, who 
would make less than I do. But they do not write. 
And from the length of time the world has waited for 
such a book it is fair to presume that they do not in- 
tend to write. Therefore take this as the best you 
can get, and bear lightly on its infirmities. 

Some will think I have been too fond of repetition. 
But there are principles which cannot otherwise be 
understood in their practical extent. The great trouble 
is to make one understand in the concrete what he 
knows well enough in the abstract. Other principles 
require repetition in their different applications, re- 
quiring contemplation under different points of view. 
Many will think that I have been too fond of analysis, 
have drawn distinctions too fine, and have been too 
lavish with refinements and caution. Undoubtedly 
deer may be killed in large numbers without heeding 
one half the advice I give. There are still parts of 
our country where deer are yet so plenty and tame 
that any one who can shoot at all can kill some. 
Often when concentrated by deep snows, fires, or 
other causes, and enfeebled by starvation, the wildest 
of deer or antelope may fall easy victims to anyone of 
brute strength and brute heart. Even when deer are 
scarce, wild, and in full strength the veriest block- 
head may occasionally stumble over one and kill it 
with a shot-gun. And in almost any place where the 
ground or brush does not make too much noise be- 
neath the feet, if there are any deer at all, brute en- 



14 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

durance in getting over ground enough, assisted by 
brute perseverance, will bring success. 

But from all this we can draw only one conclusion; 
namely, that the greater the success one has by care- 
less or unscientific methods, the better it would be 
and the more ease and pleasure he would have in it 
by doing it scientifically. And to put the beginner 
on the very best track, I have treated, throughout 
this work, of deer very wild. This is rendered the 
more necessary by the fact that in nearly all places 
the deer of to-day is not the deer of thirty years ago ; 
in many places not even the deer of ten years ago. 
Deer become more wary as hunters increase. They 
change their habits to suit new styles of hunting and 
fire-arms. And these tendencies have been so trans- 
mitted by descent that the average six-months-old 
fawn of to-day is a far more delicate article to handle 
than were most of the mighty old bucks on which 
the Leatherstocking "old hunter" of thirty years ago 
won his name and fame. 

It is quite common to hear still-hunting denounced 
as "pot-hunting" by the advocates of driving deer 
with hounds. That the market-hunter is almost al- 
ways a still-hunter is unfortunately true. It is also 
a sad truth that the man who murders woodcock in 
May for Delmonico's epicures possesses a breech- 
loader. But this hardly makes the use of the breech- 
loader pot-hunting. I have seen it stated that a 
still-hunter on snow was certain to secure the deer 
that he once took the track of. All this savors of sour 
grapes. No man who ever had any experience in 
still-hunting ever committed such stuff to paper. But 
to correct at the outset any misapprehension I will 
say that, with whatever proficiency in still-hunting 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

any mortal ever reaches, with all the advantages of 
snow, ground, wind, and sun in his favor, many a 
deer will, in the very climax of triumphant assur- 
ance, slip through his fingers like the thread of a 
beautiful dream. 



16 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER II. 

TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 

Much has been written about the essential quali- 
ties of a good deer-hunter, the only effect of which is 
to deter from attempting it many a man who might 
easily enjoy still-hunting, or *' deer-stalking" as our 
English cousins call it. To make a good professional 
hunter who shall kill a large number of deer in a 
season, and do it on all kinds of ground and in all 
kinds of weather, does undoubtedly require such 
physical and other qualities as are mentioned by Stone- 
henge, Forrester, and others. But on the other hand 
any man of sufficient savoir faire, strength, and energy 
to make a respectable bag of quail or woodcock in 
any of the Eastern States, whether he be bred in the 
backwoods or in Fifth Avenue, whether a knight of 
the trigger or only a carpet-knight, can by study and 
practice make a fair amateur still-hunter ; that is, one 
who can go where deer or antelope are moderately 
plenty and kill, not great quantities, but enough for 
good sport and quite as much as any man has any 
business to kill. 

We will leave the equipment for hunting for future 
consideration ; and, supposing you already prepared, 
let us see where we are to find our game. 

To find ground where deer are plenty enough for 
good sport is still an easy matter even at the present 
rate of destruction. And there need be no fear that 



TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 17 

they will soon be too scarce. The days of the mar- 
ket's lofty prerogative are numbered. The American 
people are fast awaking to the fact that the true ques- 
tion before them is not, Why should not he who kills 
game have a right to sell it? not, Why should not he 
who cannot hunt his own game have a right to buy 
it ? They are fast awaking to see that a far higher 
question than either of those imperiously demands an 
immediate answer. That question is. Shall we have 
game for those who are able to hunt it for themselves, 
who need the health-giving medicine of the woods far 
more than epicures need their palates tickled, or shall 
we have game for none ? Shall we have game for our 
own people forever under close restrictions, or shall 
our woods become a cheerless blank in order that the 
present generation of epicures in New York and Bos- 
ton may wax fat for a few years ? And when Amer- 
ica awakes from sleep she spends little time in yawn- 
ing and rubbing her eyes. 

The deer is still found in nearly every State in the 
Union, though in many is not now plenty enough for 
still-hunting unless upon snow. In Canada and the 
northern tier of States in the Great West, in nearly 
all the Territories, in most of the Southern and South- 
western States, and on the Pacific coast it is still quite 
abundant in large tracts of country. But it is quite 
impossible to lay down any reliable rule for finding 
where deer are abundant, for there is no other kind of 
game whose movements and habits are so influenced 
by locality, climate, season, elevation and shape of 
ground, quality, quantity, and distribution of food, 
amount and nature of hunting to which they are ex- 
posed, as well as by snow, flies, scarcity of water, 
timber, brush, etc., as are the movements and habits 



18 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

of deer. Besides all this there is sometimes a caprice 
about their movements that will overturn all calcula- 
tions even when based upon the most reliable data. 
Sometimes deer will shift hundreds of miles on the 
approach of winter, as they do in Northern Wisconsin 
and that part of Michigan lying north of it. Yet in 
other places of apparently the same character they 
move little or not at all. In places their migrations 
are very regular, in others so irregular as to appear 
quite accidental, occurring only at intervals of several 
years, often without apparent cause. In general they 
are regular. The snow-belts of mountains they are 
quite apt to forsake in winter for the warmer or barer 
foot-hills or valleys below, sometimes going many 
miles away into the lowland ranges, sometimes linger- 
ing around the mountains' feet, sometimes returning 
early in the spring to the high ranges, sometimes re- 
maining in the low ground for the greater part of the 
summer. Even when in the high mountains their 
movements will vary. Sometimes they will keep 
along the highest ridges on which timber or brush is 
to be found, descending only at night to the little 
meadows or valleys below to water and feed; while 
at other times they will be most numerous half-way 
down the mountain, and are frequently more plenty, 
even in summer, in the foot-hills than in the high 
ground. Sometimes they will be found most plenty 
in thick brush; and again the thick brush will be al- 
most bare of them and they will be found in the 
gulches and breaks of comparatively open ground. 
Sometimes they will be most numerous in the depths 
of the heaviest timber, sometimes on the edge of it 
where it breaks into scrub oak, hazel and other brush, 
sometimes in the long grass of the sloughs on the 



TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 19 

prairie. Often they will be most plenty in the dense 
undergrowth of river bottoms, and again in the high 
bluffy lands along them; sometimes in the heaviest 
swamps and places abounding in lakes or ponds ; some- 
times in the valleys and low ravines, and again mainly 
on the ridges and points. By all this I mean that the 
greater part of the deer will be in such places, and 
not that they are exclusively on such ground; for in a 
country abounding in deer generally more or less will 
be found on nearly all kinds of ground and at every 
season, except perhaps on the mountain-tops in case 
of deep snows in winter. The habits of deer in regard 
to shifting will often vary very much in the same sec- 
tion of country. In some parts of Southern California 
fully three fourths of the deer on a certain range will 
leave it for another range. In other parts the same 
deer will always be found on the same old circle where 
you have found them for years, and if killed out there 
will be few or none to be found there for a year or two. 
While antelope generally have a far more extensive 
daily or weekly range than deer, they are less apt to 
shift from section to section for any cause but snow. 
Some of the bands yet remaining in San Diego County, 
Cal., stay on their old range through the severest 
drouths, clinging to their native plain long after 
horses and cattle have been starved out upon it, re- 
fusing to leave it though there be good feed in other 
sections not far away. But it must not be inferred 
that the antelope in all sections retains this love for 
his native heath. Such may be the case, but a few 
instances do not prove it. And all through the study 
of still-hunting you cannot be too careful how you 
draw conclusions from a few instances, and especially 
about the migratory movements of deer. 



20 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

The plain truth is that there is no trustworthy rule 
by which to decide in what section deer or antelope 
are plenty enough to afford good sport. The only 
reliance is on — 

ist. General reputation of a range. 

2d. Information from those hunting or living upon 
it. 

3d. Personal inspection of the range. 

When a certain section has the reputation of being 
a good deer-range, such reputation is not apt to be 
baseless. But when you reach it you will probably 
have to decide for yourself whether it will reward 
you to hunt it. And probably you will have to decide 
for yourself upon which part the most game is likely 
to be found ; for though few sources of information 
are more reliable than general reputation of a range 
few are more unreliable \.\\dsv special information about 
it. The opinion of persons who are not hunters is 
bad enough about almost any kind of game, but al- 
most worthless about deer. Some people are always 
seeing some wonderful thing, while others never see 
anything beyond their immediate business. One man 
will declare that " the woods is lined with 'em" be- 
cause he occasionally sees one or two along the road 
or near a spring, taking them, of course, every time 
for different deer, or because he sees a few tracks in 
his turnip-patch, counting unconsciously a deer to 
every track, as is usual with most persons not hunters, 
and with too many that are. Another dogmatically 
assures you that " deer are mighty scurse" because 
he does not see some every time he goes smashing 
through dry leaves and dead sticks with hobnailed 
stogey boots to look for his cattle in the woods. 

The opinion even of good hunters is very unreliable. 



TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 21 

Unless they are hunting they know little about what 
part of the range the deer are actually most plenty 
upon. And if they are hunting, a stranger can scarcely 
expect them to introduce him to their best preserves. 
That is a little thicker cream than can be reasonably 
expected to rise on even the richest milk of human 
kindness. Yet there are many hunters capable of just 
such weakness whose hearts open at once towards the 
genial, gentlemanly stranger who gives himself no 
airs and makes no pretensions. And right here it is 
my duty to say that if you are out for only two or 
three days' hunt, if your object be only to kill a deer 
for the sake of saying you have killed one, and you 
do not intend to continue still-hunting, the very best 
thing you can do is to entwine yourself around the 
heart of such a hunter and, if necessary, pay him a 
fair price to work you up a good shot. If you cannot 
do this and have little time or patience to spend, you 
had better go home and leave deer alone, for the 
chances are that, that even with all the advice that any 
one can give, you will be deeply disappointed. 

There is scarcely any kind of ground on which 
deer may not sometimes be found in considerable 
numbers, provided it be somewhat broken and con- 
tain some cover, brush or trees. The deer loves cover 
and will have it. He loves browse and will have it, 
though he will be sometimes miles away from it. He 
loves ground more or less rough, and will rarely be 
found away from it unless there are extra inducements 
elsewhere, in the line of brush, long grass, or other 
good food and cover. As a rule, he loves water; though 
he belongs to that class of animals that will drink 
water if conveniently obtained, but can go without it 
entirely, even in the hottest summer weather, like the 



32 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

valley quail of Southern California. The deer will, 
however, often go a long distance for water, and this 
fact, combined with the fact that he can and often 
will go without it, makes the water question some- 
what unreliable in determining his whereabouts. 

A kind of ground that in some parts of the coun- 
try will never contain a deer may in other sections 
afford good sport. Yonder wide stretch of plain that 
looks so bare to the eye, and is so far away from tim- 
ber or hills that in Minnesota or Wisconsin a huntei 
would not look at it, may in Southern California, Ari- 
zona, or Mexico contain numbers of deer in those 
gulches, cuts, gullies, and creek bottoms where from 
a distance the shrubbery looks too thin and sparse 
for even a jack-rabbit to live in. Yonder mountain, 
that even through the glass seems only a frowning 
mass of castle, crag, and boulder, may on inspection 
yield many a deer stowed away in its little brushy 
ravines or plateaus. And yonder wavy sea of stony 
ground, so utterly bare of grass, so bare even of brush 
except in the ravines, so bare of water that you can- 
not camp there, may at times afford you good sport. 
Hence it is about as puzzling to say where deer may 
not be found as to say where they may be. 

There is not so much difficulty about the antelope. 
There seems, indeed, to be no kind of ground too poor 
for him to live on and keep, too, in fair condition, 
though, unlike the deer, he lives mainly on grass in- 
stead of browse. Though he loves the plains, he has 
no objection to high rolling hills if they are not too 
brushy. But he hates brush and timber; and though 
he will occasionally go into thin brush or into very 
open timber, he need never be sought where either 
one is thick or extensive. 




No matter how carefully you may hunt, a deer often keeps -^ 
little gulch handy into which one jump makes him sate. 



TO FIND GOOD HUNTING-GROUND. 23 

As a rule, good deer and antelope hunting must be 
sought in pretty wild sections; and generally the wilder 
they are the better. This rule, again, has its excep- 
tions, and they must not be forgotten. Many tracts 
of howling wilderness and many undisturbed and 
splendid mountain-sides are almost entirely bare of 
deer at all times, though all the conditions of good 
deer-range exist. On the other hand, many a tract 
that has been settled for years and contains two or 
three or four settlers' cabins to the square mile will 
often contain deer enough for excellent sport. It is 
much the same with antelope; many a fine plain hav- 
ing been bare of them within the memory of the old- 
est Indians, others having a band or two that care 
nothing for its settlements, except to keep just out of 
shot, remaining on their old haunts until, one by one, 
they fade away before the relentless rifle. 

Neither the deer nor the antelope can, however, be 
called an admirer of civilization. Sometimes deer 
will at once forsake a good-sized valley or timber 
grove because a settler has moved into it, though this 
is apt to be the case only when it is isolated from the 
rest of the range. Antelope, too, will often cease to 
run up a valley leading from the plain when settlers 
have moved in, and this even though not hunted. 
Both of them hate sheep and will generally desert 
ground over which sheep range. But for cattle and 
horses they care nothing ; in fact, rather seem to en- 
joy their company at times, provided the herdsmen do 
not come among them too often. But all such things 
affect only parts of the range and have little to do in 
determining its general character. 



24 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER III. 

EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 

Having selected the general range or tract upon 
which you will hunt, the next point is to determine 
upon what part of it it will be best to hunt. For deer 
are not distributed generally over the whole even of 
the best ranges, but are more or less concentrated in 
particular parts. And this is so even when they are 
not banded but are living separately. The same is 
true of antelope even when the does are scattered 
with their kids and are not banded as they generally 
are. It is also a provoking fact that you have prob- 
ably noticed in other branches of hunting, that the 
very best-looking ground is often bare of game. And 
deer, above all other things, fail to appreciate your 
kindness in selecting their abiding-places, and prefer 
to make their own selections. 

For these reasons you will do well to make the ex- 
ploration of your ground and inspection of signs, etc., 
the principal object of your first day's hunt. I do not 
mean that you are to go carelessly or without a keen 
outlook for game. But before you can hunt to much 
advantage you must learn what is commonly termed 
" the lay of the land," and also know upon what parts 
of it the most deer are ranging. " The lay of the 
land " is of such importance that it must never be 
neglected. Every ridge, every pass, every valley, 



EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 26 

every spot that you are likely ever to travel again 
should be deeply impressed upon the memory, with its 
general character — either as a deer's feeding-ground, 
lying- down ground, lounging - ground, skulking- 
ground, or ground upon which deer rarely or never 
stop. The courses of all valleys should be noted so 
that you will know how the wind is in any one of 
them at any time, how the sun shines in them, the 
facilities for traveling in them quietly, and for seeing 
what is in them without climbing too high on the 
ridges. The best routes along the ridges should also 
be noted, with the best point of observation from any 
of them. In short, study how the ground may be 
traversed so as best to take advantage of the princi- 
ples hereafter laid down. 

In most ranges the question of food will, at the 
proper time of year, aid you more than anything else in 
determining what hunters call the "run of the deer." 
The deer is a browsing animal. He cares but little 
for grass in general; though when it is young and 
tender, or when other kinds of food are scarce or the 
browse is old and tough, he will eat even grass. And 
some of the grasses, such as young wheat, oats, bar- 
ley, etc., deer frequently eat. I have never known a 
deer to eat what is known as "dry feed," to wit, sun- 
dried grass, as antelope and stock do in California. 
Nor have I ever found " dry feed " in a deer's stomach. 
They eat the buds, twigs, and leaves of a vast variety 
of shrubs and trees. And this makes their feeding- 
ground for a large part of the year too general to be 
of much aid in determining their favorite haunts. 
They are fond of turnips, cabbage, beans, grapevines, 
and garden-stuff generally; but all such food is too 
accidental to influence their movements much. There 



26 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

is a long list of berries and fruits which they will eat; 
and individuals sometimes extend their researches 
beyond this list. I once shot a fat buck that con- 
tained half a peck of the worst kind of prickly 
pears. There are, however, but few fruits or nuts 
that influence their movements much, and of these 
the principal are chestnuts, beechnuts, and acorns. 
Wherever there is abundance of these, in a very short 
time after they begin to fall the deer will gather in to 
feed on them, sometimes shifting ground many miles 
to get convenient access to them. And of all these 
the most universal is the acorn. Deer are very fond 
of bush and scrub-oak acorns, which they begin to 
eat earlier in the season than the tree acorns, not 
being obliged to await their falling. But ground on 
which these grow is apt to be too brushy and make 
too much noise for very successful hunting. The best 
ground, for the beginner especially, is the ground 
known as "oak ridges," consisting of small "hog- 
backs" or higher ridges covered with black oak, red 
oak, and white oak. These are found throughout all 
the heavy forests of the Eastern and Western States, 
and here one has a prospect of interviewing a bear, 
as he too is fond of acorns. Moreover, if you hunt 
east of the Missouri you can do little till the leaves 
have fallen, and by that time, if it is an " acorn sea- 
son," there will be more or less acorns upon almost 
any good deer-range. So you had better go first to 
the " oak ridges." 

One of the first points upon which you should sat- 
isfy yourself is this question: How much are the deer 
disturbed by still-hunting? For it is a settled fact, of 
which you must never lose sight, that a deer's habits 



EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 27 

and movements will be very much and very quickly 
influenced by still-hunting. 

It is a common idea with hunters that driving deer 
with hounds drives them away and makes them wilder. 
This may in some places be true. It may also be gen- 
erally true if swift hounds be used. But there are 
places where it is not so, and within my observation 
deer have little fear of slow dogs. Deer that had been 
made so wild with still-hunting that it was almost im- 
possible to get even sight of them except under the 
happiest combination of soft snow, favorable wind, 
and rolling ground, I have seen play along for half a 
mile across an open pine-chopping before two curs 
wallowing and yelping through the snow behind them. 
They seemed to consider it only fun, stopping every 
few jumps and looking back at the curs until they got 
within a few feet of them. About the tamest deer I 
ever met were some that were habitually chased with 
hounds and never still-hunted, and one of these I ac- 
tually approached within five yards with a shot-gun. 

But more than any other thing they fear the still- 
hunter. Right well they learn, and quickly too, that 
mischief without warning now lurks in every corner 
of the once peaceful home. And quickly they adapt 
themselves to this change of affairs. I have seen men 
that were successful hunters ten and even five years 
ago, but who had not hunted of late, traverse their 
old grounds without getting a shot or scarcely seeing 
a "flag;" seeing plenty of tracks, however, and com- 
ing home wondering where the deer all were. I have 
seen deer that I positively knew had no other disturb- 
ance than my own hunting desert entirely the low 
hills and open cafions in which they were keeping 
before I began to trouble them, shift a thousand feet 



28 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

higher up, keep in the thick chapparal all day, and 
double their vigilance when they were out of it. They 
soon learn to watch more of the time; to lie down 
where they can see their back track; to go farther 
back into higher, rougher, and more brushy ground; 
to lie down longer during the day; to feed, water, 
and lounge about more at night; and to be on foot 
less during the day. They also learn to run on hear- 
ing a noise without stopping to look back; to keep on 
running long past the point where you can head them 
off; to slip away before you get in sight of them; to 
skulk and hide in thick brush and let you pass them; 
and a score of other tricks we will notice as we go on. 

While I prefer still-hunting to hounding as a far 
more scientific, wide-awake, and manly sport, as well 
as more healthful and less monotonous, there is no 
doubt in my mind which makes deer the wildest and 
drives them out the quickest. I have not a particle 
of interest in the question of " still-hunting versus 
hounding;" for the world is all before me and I shall 
hunt as I choose, but I want the beginner to under- 
stand thoroughly the effect of still-hunting on his 
game, whether my opinion suit him or not. 

Keeping well in mind these points, go directly to 
the oak ridges if it is acorn time; for here you will 
find the tnost indications as to the number of deer 
about, though these indications are the least reliable 
of all. The less the deer are disturbed the more time 
they will spend upon these ridges, and generally the 
larger will be the proportion of deer from the whole 
range that frequent them to feed. Hence the greater 
will be the quantity of what is called "sign." 

Signs consist of tracks, droppings, beds, pawing or 
scraping places, places where the brush has been 



EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 29 

hooked with horns, or the bark of small trees frayed 
by the rubbing of horns against it, the nipped-off 
shoots and twigs of brush, etc. Of these the only re- 
liable signs by which to judge of the number of deer 
about are the tracks, droppings, and beds. All else 
you need not consider at present. The fraying of 
bark is only where the buck has rubbed the velvet 
from his horns. As this is done late in the summer it 
is of no use to you now. The hooked brush indicates 
the commencement of " running-time;" of which here- 
after. It will, however, give you some idea of the 
number of bucks about; though one energetic buck 
will fight a great many bushes in one night. The 
same is true of pawing and scraping places, except 
where snow is pawed up to get at acorns. 

Having reached the ridges, pass on from ridge to 
ridge, noting carefully the quantity of tracks and 
droppings, and especially the size of both. It is a 
common mistake, into which hunters of some experi- 
ence often fall, to count, unconsciously often, a deer 
to every sign or two. The beginner especially is 
almost certain to estimate the number of deer from 
six to ten times too high. The age of both tracks and 
droppings is quite as important to be noted. As it is 
nearly impossible to describe the difference between 
a stale track or dropping and a fresh one, this point 
must be left to your common-sense aided by experi- 
ence. Staleness is, however, as easy to detect with 
the eye as it is hard to capture with the pen. 

As there may be two or more deer of the same size, 
you may of course underestimate the number of deer. 
But there is little danger of this. Nearly all the dan- 
ger lies in overestimating their number. 

Little can be determined, however, from a small 



30 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

tract of ground. One deer, especially an old buck in 
the fall, will often track up two or three acres or 
more so that one would think there had been a dozen 
deer there; while the common expression "just like 
sheep-tracks" with which some ignoramus is wont 
to addle the beginner's head is often based on the 
work of two or three deer over a few acres of ground. 

You must move on, then, over a considerable area 
of ground. And in so doing it is still more important 
to note the size and freshness of the tracks and drop- 
pings. For the very same deer may have marked 
several acres yesterday and several different acres 
each day before, until nearly a hundred acres may be 
so marked that to the careless eye it would look like 
the work of fifty deer. 

As a rule, deer do not travel far if undisturbed. 
And they generally travel less in timber than in open 
ground. With the exception of a buck in the fall, 
deer in timber seldom have a daily range of over half 
a mile in diameter, and in open ground seldom over a 
mile. In brush it is often much less. This is, how- 
ever, oh the assumption that food, water, and ground 
for lying down are all near each other. For if these 
are not near together a deer may travel very far. I 
have known them to go three miles for acorns, a mile 
or two from there to water, and a mile or two in an- 
other direction to lie down. I have known them de- 
scend five thousand feet at night for food and water, 
returning at daybreak to the very tops of the highest 
ridges in the timber-belt. Disturbance will also soon 
drive them to this. But where undisturbed, and where 
food, water, and good ground in which to lie down 
(of which hereafter) are close together, a deer's daily 
circuit is generally very limited. They will, however, 



EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 31 

often change this circuit, sometimes every day for a 
few days, sometimes every few days, and sometimes 
will spend a week or more on a thirty- or forty-acre 
piece of ground. This change of daily circuit is, how- 
ever, not extensive, being comprised often within a 
circle of a mile in diameter, and seldom exceeding 
two or three miles except for such special causes as 
much hunting and great distances between food, 
water, and cover, etc. 

In thus examining ground to determine something 
about the amount of deer, there are certain places 
which require special attention. Next to the actual 
feeding-ground there is scarcely any place more cer- 
tain to have signs and show them plainly than burnt- 
off ground. Why the deer resort to burnt ground is 
of little consequence. It is certain that the tender 
shoots of grass, etc., which spring up there are not the 
sole attraction. For often they begin to frequent it 
as soon as it is fairly cooled off, and continue to fre- 
quent it even in those countries where there is no 
summer rain to start any vegetation upon it. In 
brushy countries this is the very best ground on which 
to hunt, especially when after a cold night the morn- 
ing sun shines brightly into it. 

Look also in the ravines and swales that lie between 
ridges ; along the edges and in the open parts of 
thickets ; along the bottoms and in the flats by little 
creeks and rivulets ; in and around the heads of 
ravines, especially if the heads are brushy ; around 
the edges of windfalls, especially fresh ones, as the 
deer will come to browse on the tops of trees and on 
the young saplings that have been knocked down by 
the larger trees. Look also in the edges and open 
places of the brush on the outer edge of timber, espe- 



32 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

cially if it be hazel, on which they love to browse 
when in bud. Look also on all the highest points in 
the timber, on the points and backbones of ridges, 
the passes from ridge to ridge, and the connecting 
ridge of several ridges. 

In inspecting open country do the same, but pay 
special attention to the bottoms and sides of valleys 
and the top of dividing ridges between them. For 
here, if the country be at all rough, you will be quite 
apt to find the trails or runways of the deer. 

In those countries containing cattle running at 
large the cattle-paths are also good places to find 
deer-tracks, especially those paths leading to water 
or to high, rough, or brushy ground. On ground so 
open as to approach prairie in character, look well 
around the sides, heads, and mouths of all gullies, 
gulches, etc., and the nearest passes from one to the 
other across intervening ridges; also in and around 
all patches of brush or timber, and all sloughs or 
other places full of very long high grass, reeds, etc. 

In inspecting ground in those countries like Cali- 
fornia and the other Spanish-American States in 
which there is a long season without rain, you may 
save time by going first to the watering-places, which 
will be some distance apart. But here you may easily 
draw wrong conclusions, as even in the very hottest 
and driest weather deer often go a day or more with- 
out drinking at all. And where it is much trouble 
for them to get it they will often go without it alto- 
gether. And when the browse is young, soft, and 
succulent, as well as when it is wet overnight with 
dew or fog, they will generally dispense with water 
even though it be close at hand. The deer is also a 
quick drinker, and when he goes only for a drink and 



EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 33 

not to get rid of flies, etc., generally wastes little time 
around a spring, especially if much hunted. In these 
dry countries, too, the tracks are soon obliterated by 
those of quails, animals, ants, and other creatures. 
There may also be other water-holes near at hand of 
which you are unaware. So you must beware how you 
decide from the absence of tracks that there are no 
deer about. Deer also often remain several days or 
even weeks in dense chapparal, moving very little, 
though this is not apt to be the case in the fall, when 
deer move more than in summer and winter. 

On the other hand, if you find many tracks at the 
water you must be careful not to reckon a deer to 
every four hoof-prints. When several deer come to 
water together they may crowd and jostle each other 
around the edge and change their standing-places so 
often that the whole margin of the water is cut up. 
Or some may stand around while the others drink, 
and if not hunted or disturbed much they may linger 
about a while. On such ground every track shows. 

In all such cases lose no time at the spring, but 
circle around one hundred or two hundred yards 
away from it, examining carefully all the trails and 
open places in the brush or natural passes among 
rocks that lead to the water. For even where deer 
generally have no regular runways they nearly always 
have certain directions from which to approach a 
spring, and will either make some paths of their own 
or take those made by cattle or other animals. Here 
also much ground must be examined, for upon dry 
ground tracks (except in trails) are not readily seen 
by the unpracticed eye ; and to such an eye both 
tracks and droppings are apt to appear as fresh to- 
day as they would have seemed yesterday. 



34 THE STILL HUNTER. 

These same principles apply to examining almost 
any kind of ground. Deer are often found in great 
numbers in dense jungles of canebrake, swamp, and 
chapparal. But in such ground little can be done 
by still-hunting proper. One can only get them by 
driving or by hunting around the open places in the 
morning and evening, when they may be out. 

Antelope are such rangers that this kind of inspec- 
tion will not do for them. Besides, they are so sure 
to be on foot during a great part of the day, to be in 
bands, and to be on open ground, that the quickest 
way to find them is to ride over the country, stopping 
at every eminence and sweeping the country with a 
good glass. They will go great distances for water, 
seeming to need it more than deer do ; and as they 
generally go to it in a band like cattle, the water-holes 
are the places to look for their tracks. 

And now a puzzling question may meet the begin- 
ner-, namely, What is plenty? and are deer plenty 
enough to hunt ? 

The word " plenty" has of course different mean- 
ings for different kinds of game. One bear to the 
square mile would be plenty for bears, in most bear 
countries ; yet one deer to the square mile would 
hardly be worth hunting except upon very favorable 
ground, and then you would generally need snow. 
" Plenty" varies also in meaning with localities. In 
parts of Northern California plenty — a few years ago 
at least — would mean forty or fifty deer to the square 
mile, while in San Diego we call five to the square 
mile plenty. In such heavy timber as covers the 
north of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota an aver- 
age of ten to the square mile would be quite plenty, 



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EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 35 

and five to the square mile would be plenty enough 
for the best of sport on light snow. 

The word "plenty" varies, again, with the persons 
using it. A man finds his turnip-patch well tracked 
up and talks of " plenty of deer," " lots of deer," "just 
like a sheep-yard," etc., when in fact it is all done by 
two or three deer that are by daylight a mile or more 
away safely ensconced in some windfall or brush- 
patch, without another deer within two or three 
miles. " The deer are so plenty they are destroying 
the vineyards" is a species of twaddle very common 
in the papers of Southern California. He who lies 
out a few moonlight nights to watch one of those 
selfsame vineyards, or, failing in that, attempts to 
follow the tracks of the ravagers back to their moun- 
tain-home in the morning, if he is fortunate enough 
to get even a sight of the old doe and two fawns, ac- 
companied perhaps by a buck or a yearling or two, 
that did the whole mischief, returns hot, breathless, 
and disgusted from a long scramble among the rocks 
and brush, and goes home with a vastly different 
notion of "lots of deer" from what he had when he 
came out. 

One of the first and most ineradicable ideas the 
beginner gets is that there are about ten or twenty 
times as many deer about him as there really are. 
The consequence is a speedy feeling of disappoint- 
ment. If in the course of a day's walk you start 
six or eight deer — that is, either see them or find 
where they have run away from you — and can find 
tracks or droppings not over a day or two old at every 
fifty or one hundred yards of most of your course over 
the kinds of ground above described, you may con- 
sider deer quite plenty enough for the best of sport. 



36 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

Antelope, being banded, being on open ground, and 
visible at such long distances, will afford good sport 
on a far smaller average to the square mile than will 
deer. That is, on ground suitable for still-hunting. 
And this is a question that for either antelope or deer 
should be decided before you waste any time in hunt- 
ing it. 

Upon some kinds of ground successful still-hunting 
is almost an impossibility; while in ground that is 
suitable for it there is such a difference that five or 
six deer to the square mile upon one kind will give 
better success than twenty to the square mile upon 
another kind. The best kind is timber that Is open 
enough to allow you to see at least a hundred and 
fifty yards in any direction, free enough from under- 
brush to allow you to walk without touching too 
much of it, yet brushy enough in places to afford good 
browse and lying-down covert for deer, and, above all, 
rolling enough to allow you to keep out of sight be- 
hind ridges and look down into hollows and basins. 
Ground that is very brushy or quite level is very dif- 
ficult for any one to hunt alone, and had better be 
entirely shunned by the novice, as his lot will almost 
certainly be vexatious disappointment. But, as I shall 
show hereafter, brushy ground may sometimes be 
hunted to advantage by two or more persons; and 
if there are openings enough through it, it may afford 
good sport in the season called "running time." 

As a rule, the more rolling the ground the shorter 
" the breaks," and the higher the ridges, up to a hun- 
dred and fifty feet or so, the better. If it roll too 
much and the ridges be too high, it will make your 
walking too laborious and your shots too long. The 
best of all ground consists of hard-wood timber, well 



EXAMINING THE GROUND, SIGNS, ETC. 37 

open beneath and broken into ridges about fifty feet 
high. Such ground generally contains acorns in the 
fall, has plenty of windfalls and brush to make lying- 
down covert for deer in the daytime, while the tops 
of the ridges are generally clear enough of brush to 
allow still movements of the hunter and afford him 
a good view in nearly all directions. Whether you 
hunt in timber or open country, the more nearly your 
ground approaches the rolling character of these oak- 
ridge forests the better your chances of success. 

For antelope-hunting much the same kind of ground, 
though built on a larger scale, is generally necessary. 
On a broad level plain it is now almost impossible to 
get within shot of antelope except by some kind of 
trick in the way of disguise. And even that must be 
an unusually smart invention. Quite rolling ground 
is the best on which to approach them; and if the 
antelope are in numerous bands or small bunches, 
this is the only sure ground upon which to get close 
shots except by such tricks as flagging, etc. But if 
they are scarce or all in one band, it is often impos- 
sible to look over enough of this kind of ground to 
find where they are without in many cases a vast 
amount of traveling, there being so many places 
where they can be out of sight in a valley or behind 
some knolls 



38 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 

Having selected the ground upon which you are to 
hunt you will probably, if left to yourself, go wander- 
ing around the woods with your eyes fixed about fifty 
yards ahead of you, expecting at every turn to see a 
large calf-like object standing broadside to you in a 
nice open spot, patiently awaiting your bullet — dis- 
tance twenty-five or thirty yards. 

The first thing you must do is to lay aside each and 
every idea of how a wild deer looks that you have 
ever derived from your imagination, from pictures 
even by the best artists in the best magazines or 
books, even when drawn by accomplished sportsmen. 
No picture unless of immense size and made by a thor- 
ough hunter who is also a thorough artist can convey 
any notion of how a deer looks on his native heath 
under the circumstances in which three fourths of the 
time you will have to see him to get a shot. There 
are of course cases in which a deer appears in the 
woods just as he does in a picture. Such was often 
the case in the olden days. But such is the exception 
now. There is an occasional deer that is either a nat- 
ural fool, or has never before seen a man, or that may 
have dropped into a doze in the daytime and awakened 
bewildered for an instant at your near approach, or, 
owing to formation of ground, cannot make out the 



THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 39 

direction of the noise that alarms him and stops a 
minute to locate it. Such an one makes an easy shot. 

The deer you will be apt to meet at this day are 
animals very different from the one above mentioned. 
And in order to understand them thoroughly it is 
necessary to consider well their senses. 

You have doubtless heard and read dozens of times 
that the deer is timid, shy, and watchful. The trouble 
with all such information is that it gives no idea of 
the practical extent oi Si de^G.v's acuteness. From all I 
have ever heard or read one would never dream of a 
deer's starting two hundred or three hundred yards 
away, out of your sight, beyond your hearing, etc., 
when you were walking "so quietly," as you thought, 
and against the wind too. You feel dazed when you 
find the tracks of his long jumps so fresh and far 
apart. And many times must even this be repeated 
before the light of the true state of affairs breaks in 
upon your picture-trained mind. 

As a general rule, the nose of the deer is perhaps the 
most important sense to avoid. Not that they can 
smell any farther than they can see or hear; but be- 
cause the smell of a man alarms them more thor- 
oughly and completely than any sound or sight. A 
deer will often stop an instant to locate a noise or 
look at any unusual object; and when entirely undis- 
turbed by hunting deer are so certain to do so that 
there is hardly ever any need of taking a running 
shot. But almost every wild animal knows instinct' 
ively the smell of a man. A deer seems to know it 
above most all others. When he catches the scent he 
does not have to take a second sniff of the tainted air. 
He has generally no further curiosity. He is perfectly 
satisfied as to the character and direction of the odor, 



40 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

and his only concern is to effect his immediate dis- 
appearance. 

This delicacy of scent is developed very early and 
needs no practice to keep it acute. Once, while hunt- 
ing on a very hot morning, I sat down to rest at the 
mouth of a little canon that led into a larger one. At 
the time scarcely any perceptible wind was stirring, 
I had been seated only about two minutes when a 
sudden crash and bump, bump, bump of hoofs brought 
me with a bound to my feet, and I saw two half- 
grown fawns bounding up the cafion at full speed and 
a hundred yards away. On examining the ground 
I found that they had been lying under a thick bush 
of sumac about eighty yards from me, and had sprung 
several feet at the first bound. An intervening rise 
of ground showed plainly that they did not see me, 
and as I had been walking in a soft dusty cattle-trail 
with moccasins with great stillness, sat down quietly, 
and sat without anything moving for over two minutes 
(just about the time it would take scent to move to 
them in the light breeze there was), I feel equally 
confident that they did not hear me. From my knowl- 
edge of that ground I know positively that those 
fawns had never before met a man. I have often 
noticed that fawns, though they may stand and look 
at you, or stop when you start them with a noise only, 
seldom stop when they smell you. 

He who has seen a good dog scent grouse against 
a cool morning or evening breeze on a prairie needs 
scarcely to be told of the distance at which a deer can 
smell such a great gross beast as a man, especially 
with a cool damp breeze in a valley. 

This fear of a man's scent is also more universal 
than the fear of a sight or sound of him. In an 



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open country deer will often stand and watch a dis- 
tant man when they know perfectly well what he is. 
The brush-deer often cares little for noise, and will let 
a man come tearing through the brush quite close to 
his skulking form. But let such a deer catch your 
scent and he tarries no longer. 

Still there are times when the scent of a man does 
not alarm deer. But this is probably due more to the 
casual existence of cross-currents of air that carry 
away the scent than to any indifference on the part of 
the deer. Also when running, and even when walk- 
ing, they will often pass to leeward of a man, and 
may come very close to him if the man keeps perfectly 
still. Where they seldom see a man on a horse or in 
a wagon, deer will frequently stand quite unconcerned 
within plain sight and scent of both. And where 
men travel much on horseback they will often do the 
same thing if they are not much hunted. But upon 
these exceptions no dependence must be placed, as 
where one thus stands probably two slip away unob- 
served. 

Where much hunted the ears of a deer become the 
most acute and practiced of his senses. And in many 
sections it is his hearing that makes the most difficulty 
in approaching him. And often it is the hardest of 
all his senses to avoid. I have often seen a deer 
spring from his bed at a bound and run away at a 
racer's speed before I was within two hundred yards 
of him, when I was positive that a man could not at 
twenty yards' distance have heard the soft tread of my 
moccasins on the light snow, and when I touched not 
a single bush or twig in a way that could make a 
noise. Yet the fact that the breeze was coming from 
the deer to me showed that he could not have smelt 



42 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

me. And looking from the deer's bed to my own po- 
sition at the time he sprang showed plainly that he 
could not have seen me even had he been standing 
instead of lying down as he was doing. Lie down 
upon the ground in the woods some still day about 
the time of your companion's return to camp and see 
how far you can hear his footsteps even with your 
dull ears. 

Even when the long practiced and moccasined foot 
falls on the ground as softly as snow, even when the 
leaves or twigs are softened with long rain, there is a 
faint crushing, packing sound that acute ears can 
hear along the ground a long distance. And the 
lightest snow, if of any depth, makes a faint grinding 
noise as it packs beneath the foot. So they will hear 
at a long distance the snapping or brushing of twigs 
against your clothes and the switching sound in the 
air as you let them fly back. These latter are, how- 
ever, not so apt to alarm a deer lying down as sounds 
from the feet, though the other sounds may be the 
more audible to you. 

Deer know, too, as well as a man the distance of 
sounds, and also their character, and are rarely de- 
ceived. They will often lie all day within plain hear- 
ing of the noises of a settler's cabin, the sound of the 
ax, and the lurid vocabulary of the teamster in the 
"pinery." The crash of a squirrel's jump, the roar of 
thunder, the snapping of trees with frost, their creak- 
ing or falling in the wind, generally does not alarm 
them in the least. Yet the faint pressing of the leaves 
beneath the feet, or the crack of a twig a hundred 
yards or more away, may send them flying. 

The direction of noise, however, often perplexes 
deer. And in their perfectly natural state their curi- 



THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 43 

osity to know its exact location and precise character 
generally leads them to stop after running a few 
jumps. And often they will rise up and look, stand- 
ing directly in their beds. After a certain amount of 
persecution they generally lose this curiosity, become 
perfectly satisfied with a general presumption of mis- 
chief, and stand not on the order of their going; 
though the very wildest of deer may occasionally 
yield to the temptation to take just one look. 

Against the wind a deer cannot of course hear so 
well as he can down the wind. But even up wind 
you should relax no caution, as in such case there is 
generally no need of haste. 

An apparent exception to this sense of hearing is 
in case of the skulking or hiding deer. The excep- 
tion is, however, apparent only. Deer that live much 
in very thick brush, often depend, like many other 
animals, upon standing or lying still and letting you 
pass them. They know perfectly well that you oan- 
not see them. The deer of Southern California is 
very apt to be of this character when found in the 
brushy regions. Even when in the open hills or in 
the timber-groves or in the mountains this deer is not 
half so shy of noise as is the deer of the Eastern 
woods. If deer in San Diego County were as afraid 
of noise as they are in the Wisconsin and Minnesota 
woods it would be nearly impossible to approach 
them in the dry season when the brush, grass, and 
weeds are brittle. In Southern California they depend 
more upon their scent and sight than upon hearing.. 
But it would be absurd to suppose that they do not 
hear. Many a hunter there loses a shot through his 
folly in reasoning upon this point. A deer does not 
stand or skulk because you make an extra noise. That 



44 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

trick he will play anyhow if he has decided on that 
course. But half the time instead of standing he slips 
quietly off before you get in sight of him. You gain 
nothing on the skulker by your noise. And by it 
you lose the other entirely. 

Another exception, which is perhaps apparent only, 
is the case of deer in open ground. This results 
mainly from the difference in the appearance of dis- 
tances in the woods and in the open; distance in the 
woods appearing much greater. It is probable, too, 
that sounds can be heard a trifle farther in the woods 
owing to there being less wind and some cover over- 
head. At any rate, it seems so with noises not too 
distant, though the point is a hard one to prove. 

To recognize an object at rest the eyes of a deer 
are about as dull as those of a dog. But this, again,, 
has two partial exceptions. On open ground deer 
can often recognize a man quite well, especially if he 
be standing. And if they have taken any alarm they 
will be quite sure to do so. Even in the woods if a 
man be standing and the deer has taken alarm, the 
deer will be quite apt to identify him. But as a rule, 
if the deer is unalarmed, he will not know a man 
from a stump on open ground if the man is seated 
and motionless ; nor will he in the woods even if the 
man is standing. If the deer is moving, and especi- 
ally if running, he is quite blind to anything ahead of 
him, provided it does not move. Hence if some ons 
drives a deer toward you, you need little or no con- 
cealment if you keep still. But when he gets in sight 
of you, beware how you move a step for a better 
position. You may do it, but your game is liable to 
switch off to one side in a twinkling. 

A deer can also see a long way. I have seen them 



THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 46 

watching my companion nearly a mile away, whose 
motions I could hardly make out myself. It is doubt- 
ful, though, if a deer can distinguish a man at any 
such distance, or even at half of it. 

But a deer's eyes are marvelously quick to catch a 
motion. And the fact that deer are generally at rest 
while you are in motion gives them an immense ad- 
vantage over you. So keen are their eyes to detect a 
motion that if you once get within their eye-range and 
they suspect you, it is almost useless to try to get a 
single step closer to them. From this arises the com- 
mon hunter's maxim, "When you see a deer, shoot;" 
a maxim demanding great qualification, however. A 
deer not alarmed may often be approached after you 
come within his sight; as we shall see hereafter. 

Not only are they quick to detect a motion, but 
they can detect a very slight one or a very slow one, 
and do it, too, at quite a distance. The slow rising 
of your head over a ridge, the slow movement of your 
body across the trunks of trees, the slow motion of a 
creeping body along the ground they see almost in- 
stantly, unless the motion happens to be made while 
they have their heads down feeding or walking, etc. 
A deer once started watches back with an acuteness 
that in the woods is quite certain to baffle the keenest- 
eyed pursuer, and is likely to do so on open ground. 
And when much hunted by tracking they learn to 
watch their back track without waiting to be started. 

The senses of antelope are about the same as those 
of deer. Their great bulging eyes like old-fashioned 
watch-crystals will catch a far slighter motion than 
those of a deer, will catch it three or four times as far 
away, and catch it, too, in almost any quarter of the 
horizon. My experience with them at close ranges 



46 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

has been too limited to enable me to determine satis- 
factorily whether they are as sensitive to noise as a 
deer. So far as I have seen they are not, though this 
is probably on account of being on open ground; a 
distinction before explained. For the same reason 
the question of scent seems to be less important. 
But then you should not presume in the slightest 
upon any failure of acuteness in any of their senses; 
and especially in their eyes, to which you must never 
yield a single point of vantage. 

In fact, you must not presume upon any exception 
about the senses of either antelope or deer. If you 
deal with every one as if he were the most wary of 
his race, you will lose nothing if he turns out a sim- 
pleton. Whereas if you deal with any as if they were 
simpletons, you will lose not only the wise ones but 
many a simpleton also. 

And now let us consider what you have with which 
to outgeneral these senses of your game. 

I have seen one man who claimed that he could 
smell deer. As he could make no practical use of his 
power in jumping, or starting, or finding the animal, 
even against a cool morning breeze, it may be con- 
sidered worthless even if it were not all in his fancy. 
A good musky old buck in the fall, if close by, may 
be smelt. And so may a billy-goat. But the buck 
cannot be smelt far enough to keep him from discov- 
ering you first. The hunter's nose may be regarded 
as useless except to find camp at evening when the 
bacon and coffee are ready. 

Your ears will often detect the sound of hoofs when 
you have started a deer, and are then useful as a guide 
to your eyes. They may also help you discover a 
deer moving in brush or on hard ground if near at 



THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 47 

hand. They may also catch the snort or bleat of a 
deer. They should by all means be cultivated. 

But your main reliance must be your eyes. And 
these should be of the first class. If you are near- 
sighted or weak-sighted you may as well give up all 
hope of being anything like an expert. You may- 
be a good shot at the target and see very well with 
glasses, but you will lack that quickness, comprehen- 
siveness, and acuteness of sight that is indispensable 
to success. A deer hanging up in market, standing 
in a park, or stuffed in a museum is one thing. But 
in the ground where he is generally found, whether 
feeding, standing up or lying down, he is quite 
another. This is the reason why all pictures are mis- 
leading. A deer as he appears about five sixths of 
the time in his native home would make an almost 
invisible point on a two-by-four-foot canvas. Not only 
his smallness but his varying color and shape in 
different lights and positions, the fact that one sel- 
dom sees the whole of the body at once and sees it 
then only on a dim, perhaps dark, background, make 
him one of the hardest of all objects to catch with the 
eyes. Nothing in the v^rhole line of hunting is so im- 
portant as to see the deer before he sees you; and 
there is scarcely anything else so hard to do. In this 
more than in almost any other one thing lies the 
secret of the old and practical still-hunter's success. 
Sometimes a dim blur in a thicket; sometimes a small 
spot of brown or gray or yellow or red or white or 
nearly black far away on a hillside or ridge; some- 
times a dark gray or brownish patch among tree- 
trunks or logs of the same color; sometimes only a 
pair of slender legs, looking like dead sticks beneath 
a huge fallen tree; a few tines looking like dead 



48 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

Sticks in a distant bush; a pair of delicate ear-tips just 
visible above weeds, brush, or long grass; a glisten- 
ing point or two where the sun strikes upon a polished 
horn; a shiny spot far away where the light just 
touches a bit of glossy hair. It takes the highest com- 
bination of natural keenness and culture of vision to 
detect one until just a second or two too late for a 
shot. I shall never forget the surprise of a certain 
youth who even in boyhood was distinguished among 
far older hunters for his acuteness in seeing squirrels 
hidden in trees, hares in their forms, woodcock on 
the autumn leaves ahead of the dog, etc. etc., when 
he first began to turn that eye on deer, and see them 
run out of a thicket through which he could see 
clearly; and going to it, find the deer had been stand- 
ing up in it all the time he was looking through it. 

Very often it is impossible for any one to see them; 
as where they are in thick brush, old pine-slashings, 
heavy windfalls, especially when lying down. So 
when they lie in the long slough-grass of the prairie, 
and in hot weather when they lie in the shade. Of 
course they will sometimes be in such a position that 
any one can see them at once. But this is the rare 
exception and must not be depended on. A good 
glass is a great help in a large open country; but you 
must not allow yourself to depend on it, and should 
use it only when you have to. In timber it will gen- 
erally be of little use, though if you must carry a lot 
of things it will do no harm and may be useful. For 
antelope-hunting it is often almost indispensable. 
Every spot of white or brown or gray, every hazy line, 
every point or glimmer like mirage for miles around 
should be carefully scanned with it. But for deer it 
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THE SENSES OF THE GAME AND HUNTER. 49 

things which you first catch with the naked eye. 
Otherwise your eye will lose the extreme keenness 
and quickness absolutely necessary for good still- 
hunting. 



6Q THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE DAILY LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE. 

Before one can expect any success in still-hunting 
he must know something about the daily life and 
movements of the game. In hunting antelope this is 
not of so much importance, as they live in country so 
open, are so conspicuous in color, and keep so much 
in bands, that with a good glass and careful searching 
from prominent points they can be seen at immense 
distances. And this must be done any how, for 
they are such wide rangers that there is little use to 
be made of their tracks except to get their general 
course; and when you are once upon their range you 
can employ your time to better advantage in covering 
as much ground as possible with your horse and 
sweeping it with your glass. 

But the deer keeps so close to some kind of cover, 
is of a color so neutral, often resembling the general 
background upon which he is to be seen, that one 
may often pass within easy shot of a dozen without 
seeing them at all unless they run. There is little 
trouble in seeing antelope, on rolling ground at least, 
provided you get within a half-mile or so of them. 
The main difficulty is to get a shot after you do see 
them. With deer it is not only difficult enough to get 
a good shot, but almost as hard to find them at all. 
The general whereabouts of antelope being known, it 
is little trouble — or rather it takes little or no skill or 



DAILY LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE. 51 

knowledge — to find their /d!r//Vz//^r whereabouts. But, 
given the general whereabouts of deer, it generally, on 
bare ground, remains a highly intricate problem to 
find the clew to \.\\.€\x particular whereabouts. To do 
this, on ground where it is not possible or advisable to 
track, a pretty accurate knowledge of the deer's life is 
necessary. This varies so much in the details in dif- 
ferent countries, and even in different parts of the 
same country, that all that any writer can do within 
the limits of a general work is to mark out the out- 
lines and leave them to be filled in by your own expe- 
rience and study in the woods. 

The deer is an early riser. He is generally up before 
daybreak, and often up the whole night except at 
short intervals. But by daybreak he is nearly always 
on foot. About the first thing he does in those coun- 
tries where water is scarce and where the season is 
dry and hot enough to make him thirsty is to start 
for water. This he may do very leisurely, though; 
feeding along the way and taking plenty of time to 
look about him, so that he may not reach water until 
sunrise or long after. Or he may go straight to it and 
walk away quite as rapidly as he came. Or he may 
come directly to it and then lounge away from it, feed- 
ing and looking as he goes. How a deer will act in 
going to water or leaving it, as well as his time of 
watering, are things that cannot be reduced to rule. 
When entirely undisturbed they will in hot weather 
water at any time of day, and when flies or mosquitoes 
are bad will spend much of their time there if there 
are large bodies of water. But where there are simply 
small drinking-holes they will rarely stay there, and if 
disturbed much will water only at night or very early 
in the morning. And they will be apt to do the same 



52 ■ THE STILL-HUNTER. 

when watering very near a house or spring where they 
may see people passing, even though they are not 
shot at. In the forests of nearly all the Eastern States, 
especially in the mountains, water is so abundant that 
little use can be made, in still-hunting proper, of the 
question. When and where does a deer water? For 
fire-hunting, etc., the question has its importance. 
And even in those dry countries where the water-holes 
are scarce one must beware — for the reasons hereto- 
fore given — of placing too much reliance upon a deer's 
habits in regard to drinking. 

A deer is, however, quite certain to feed more or 
less after daybreak, even though he may have been 
on foot the greater part of the night. The deer be- 
longs to that class of animals like the horse, the ox, 
etc., that can see tolerably well in the dark and always 
do a certain amount of moving about at night, but 
nevertheless prefer a little more light when it is not 
too inconvenient to get it. So that, though he may be 
never so well fed during the night, he is quite likely 
to take a little more browse or a few more acorns at 
daybreak. 

Like a cow or horse in good pasture a deer may do 
all of his feeding on an acre or two of ground, or he 
may straggle over fifty or a hundred acres of equally 
good feed. Which he will do it is impossible to deter- 
mine except approximately. When in heavy brush 
he is apt to feed close. So when he has been much on 
foot during the night, as during full moon; so when he 
is hunted much. On the contrary, in thin brush or 
during the dark of the moon, or when little disturbed, 
he is more apt to straggle about while feeding. The 
quantity of food at hand seems to make little differ- 
ence. A deer will often wander on over ridge after 



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DAILY LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE. 53 

ridge well covered with acorns, picking up one or two 
here and there and going on a few yards for more, or 
eating half a dozen here and there and going on a 
hundred yards for more. In such particulars he is 
governed mainly by whim. 

A deer may straggle over fifty acres, feeding and 
finishing very quickly, or he may take three or four 
hours about it. The same when feeding on a small 
space. He may stand and browse half an hour on one 
bush, or after one or two bites leave it for the next 
one, which perhaps is not half so good, and spend an 
hour in trying fifty bushes. In all these respects he is 
a provokingly aggravating beast, governed largely by 
caprice and often upsetting your best calculations. 
And it is often very important to make these calcula- 
tions correctly, especially in hunting open country, 
where you see a deer feeding a long way off and need 
some time to get within good shot. But in general, 
the length of time a deer will feed will depend, as in 
case of the space over which he will wander in feed- 
ing, upon the moon and the amount of persecution 
he has. It will depend also upon the weather. In very 
hot weather he will, as a rule, finish feeding and lie 
down sooner than in cool or cold weather. 

In nearly every case in which deer are foraging in a 
garden, a turnip-patch, or other cultivated crop, they 
understand perfectly what they are about. Daybreak 
will nearly always find them gone or departing. When 
feeding in such a place they must generally be sought 
far away from it in the daytime. 

But when feeding after daybreak there is one thing 
a deer rarely fails to do, and that is to keep up a 
pretty constant watch for danger. Every moment or 
two the head comes up and scans at least half the cir- 



54 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

cle of vision, while the big ears flare impatiently for 
the faintest sound. Sometimes this looking is con- 
tinued so long and suspiciously that you feel positive 
that he suspects you. Yet if you have perfect patience 
you may soon find that he suspects nothing, though 
he may have been looking never so keenly and directly 
at you. When the head is thus up and the animal 
watching, it is unsafe to make the slightest movement 
if you are near, as, even if you are out of his sight, his 
ears are then keener; if within fair shot, you should 
shoot notwithstanding the movement necessary to do 
so, as a deer thus watching is liable to vanish at any 
moment, and, even if suspecting nothing, is liable in a 
econd to slip out of your sight behind a bush or tree 
or rise of ground. 

Having finished feeding, the deer generally proceeds 
to lounge a while. He is a gentleman of elegant leis- 
ure, and has all the deliberate ease of aristocratic dig- 
nity. He stands a while and surveys the landscape or 
the dark rotunda of tree-trunks around him. Then 
perhaps he scratches one ear with a hind-foot, wiggles 
his tail, and stands a while longer. If there are any 
fawns, they are apt to skip and play a little. A year- 
ling is also apt to feel a little frisky, and even a digni- 
fied old doe or buck may romp a minute or two with 
some young deer. 

But there is generally at such times a decided ten- 
dency to move on. This is generally done by easy 
stages. The deer walks slowly a little way, and then 
stops a while. Why he stops he probably does not 
know himself. He may nibble a twig or two during 
these pauses, or he may stand half an hour by a bush 
full of succulent and savory twigs and not touch one. 
He may stand two, five, twenty, or thirty minutes and 



DAILY LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE. 55 

do nothing ; or he may move slowly on, making 
numerous short pauses. If the weather be cold or 
very cool he will be almost certain to stop in the sun- 
shine. If it be hot he is quite as certain to tarry in 
the shade; generally on the shady side of a bush if on 
open ground. As he often postpones drinking until 
after feeding, he may all this time be tending toward 
water; though, as a rule, when going to water after 
feeding — that is, unless feeding ^^war^/ water — the deer 
walks fast and stops but little. While thus walking or 
lounging along the deer is generally not as watchful 
as when feeding. He will often stand a while with 
head down like a cow, especially in a rain or snow 
storm, and often when in the shade on a hot morning. 
When the sunshine feels good on a cold morning he is 
more apt to have his head up. But, as I have before 
remarked, never presume upon a deer's carelessness if 
you can help it. 

This lounging spell may be continued for an hour 
or two or three hours, depending, like his feeding, 
much upon the length of time the deer has been on 
foot during the night, the temperature of the morn- 
ing, and amount of still-hunting. 

All this time he is either tending toward the ground 
where he will lie down, or when he finishes his loung- 
ing he starts for it. In a previous chapter, under 
the directions where to look for deer-tracks, I have 
given the places over which a deer will be most apt to 
pass during his feeding and lounging time; though 
there is scarce any place over which he may not pass. 
In a subsequent chapter I will give the kind of places 
to which he is most apt to go to lie down. 

The length of time deer will remain in bed during 
the day is also impossible to determine. Sometimes 



56 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

they will lie until four or five o'clock, and sometimes 
rise by three. I here mean rise for the rest of the day. 
In very hot weather, if a deer has a cool shady place 
away from flies and mosquitoes he is very apt to stay 
there during all the heat of the day. And if much 
hunted and he finds good comfortable and safe cover 
he is also likely to stay. But in cool, cloudy, or windy 
weather, especially if little disturbed, he is quite apt to 
be on foot two or three times during the day, brows- 
ing a little, lounging a little, shifting position a little, 
or merely getting up for the sake of lying down again. 
During the dark of the moon, if little hunted he is 
apt to feed a little during mid-day. In rainy or 
snowy or cold blustering weather he is quite apt to be 
on foot the greater part of the day, standing most of 
the time in some brush-patch, windfall, or sheltered 
ravine or little gulch, with head down like an old cow. 

In the afternoon, if the deer rise early he is quite 
apt to lounge about a while as he did in the morning. 
If he rise late he is quite apt to go directly toward his 
feeding-ground, though he will doubtless browse some 
on the way. He will then feed and lounge about in 
much the same way he did in the morning until dark. 
In hot weather, if he is little disturbed he is quite as 
apt to go to water between sundown and dark as he 
is to go there in the morning. 

For a long while after dark the deer is still on foot. 
If the moon be full he may be on foot most of the 
night. If he has any mischief to do he can find his 
way to it without any moon. Sometimes he will 
lie down and sleep a large part of the night in one 
bed. Sometimes the same deer will make three or 
four different beds in one night. When very much 
persecuted he will do nearly all his feeding, watering, 



DAIL V LIFE OF DEER AND ANTELOPE. 57 

sleeping, etc., during the night, without regard to the 
moon or anything else, and spend the day in close 
concealment. 

These movements are varied somewhat in what is 
known as the "running time;" a matter we will con- 
sider hereafter. 

How much antelope move by night I cannot say. 
But they certainly move far more by day than deer 
do, and it is therefore probable that they move much 
less at night, if they move at all. Though they lie 
down during a large part of the day, they are still 
much longer on foot than deer are. And generally 
some of the band are on foot while the rest are lying 
down. All that I have ever seen watered in the morn- 
ing from sunrise to nine or ten o'clock. Their habits 
may, however, vary in this respect with places. They 
are much more apt to feed ahead on a straight course 
than deer are, and cover a much greater area of 
ground in doing so. They go many miles for water 
if necessary. In fact in nearly all their business they 
travel a mile where a deer goes two hundred yards. 
But whatever they are doing they are watching, 
watching, watching; trusting more to their great eyes 
and less to nose and ears than a deer does to his. 



68 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER VL 

LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 

Since it is generally so hard to catch sight of a deer 
until it is just too late to shoot, and since lying down 
is a position in which it is generally next to impossible 
to see one at all, it follows that far brighter prospects 
of success lie on the side of finding a deer on foot. 
So much is this the case that in many kinds of ground 
it is almost useless to try to get a shot at one in any 
other way. Such is the case where deer are keeping 
in heavy swamps, canebrake, tule, chapparal, or other 
stuff that is too high and too dense to afford a fair 
slvot at one when running. There your only chance 
of success is to find them on foot along the edges, or 
from some piece of rising ground see them moving or 
standing in the covert. You may in such kinds of 
ground find enough eminences to give you some fair 
running shots at deer started below you; but such is 
not generally the case. 

And now we are about ready to take the field. But 
let us first see whether the day will do for still-hunt- 
ing. For, recollect, there are some days when you 
might almost as well stay at home. Such are the 
still, warm days of autumn, when you can hear a 
squirrel scamper over the dead leaves a hundrec* 
yards away; 

" When not a breath creeps through the rosy air, 
And yet the forest leaves seem stirred with prayer." 



LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 59 

Such are the days when the snow is crusty and stiff 
or grinds under your feet, while the trees snap and 
crack with the frost; in short, all days when you can- 
not walk without making a noise that a man could 
hear at forty or fifty yards; though even on such 
days it will pay you to go out and study the move- 
ments of deer and the " lay of the land." And if it 
should be very windy, by moving against the wind 
you may get a shot, though when the trees are creak- 
ing and rattling with wind the deer are often in a 
very nervous condition all day; but against a strong 
wind they cannot smell you and cannot hear you as 
well as usual. 

But when the autumn rains have softened down 
the dead leaves and sticks, or during or just after a 
gentle rain, or when the ground is covered with an 
inch or more of soft snow, then is the time, especially 
if a gentle breeze sighs through the tree-tops, when 
your heart may well bound high with hope. 

We will first consider hunting on bare ground. 

To find a deer on foot you had better be in the 
woods about the time the morning star begins to fade 
in the first smile of coming day. This exactness is 
not always necessary. But if deer are not very plenty, 
or if they have been much hunted, or if the moon is 
near or past the full, the earlier you are in the woods 
after it is light enough to see a deer at all, the better. 

Let us first try the oak ridges, as these form the 
easiest ground upon which to take your first lessons. 

The first questions that arise are, from which way 
shall we approach the ridges? and, in which direction 
shall we traverse them? 

In determining these points, the first thing in im- 
portance is the wind. Be cautious how you decide 



bU THE STILL-HUNTER. 

that there is no breeze yet. If you can notice it in no 
other way, wet your finger, and holding it up see 
if you can feel one side colder than the other. This 
test on a cold morning in dry air is quite delicate, 
the faintest movement of air making the side toward 
the wind cooler from increase of evaporation. 

There being no perceptible wind, the next thing in 
importance is the elevation of ground and its freedom 
from brush, etc. It is best in hunting such ridges 
to walk where you can move with the least noise and 
can get the best view of all the other ridges and the 
intervening hollows. We will therefore wind along 
the highest ridges; they being in most places quite 
free from brush. 

And now we must move with great caution. Avoid, 
when possible, walking through any brush that your 
clothes will touch. If you cannot help touching some 
twigs, ease them off with your hand so that they do 
not scrape on your clothes, snap, or make a switching 
noise in flying back. Above all beware of treading 
upon dead or dried sticks or piles of dead leaves, and 
feel the ground cautiously with each foot before you 
rest your whole weight upon it. 

But none of this care must take off any of the atten- 
tion of your eyes. For these must all the time be 
sweeping the whole ground as far ahead as you can. 
see and covering the whole arc of a semicircle in 
range. Do not look as a child or woman does — at 
only one thing at a time— but let your gaze be com- 
prehensive as well as keen, taking in at one view the 
near and the distant, the front and the sides of your 
field of vision. 

At the same time beware of going too slowly. To 
traverse sufficient ground is quite as important in the 




f 



This man is going too fast to see well, so that the deer has his 
advantage, ot being at rest while the other party is moving, 
greatly increased. 



LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 61 

long-run as anything else in still-hunting. You must 
rid your mind at once of the besetting sin of the tyro 
— the idea that nearly every bush contains a deer. 
It is true that a deer 7nay be in any bush. And you 
must hunt and look upon that assumption. But it is 
equally true and often equally probable that there is 
not one within quarter of a mile of you. And the speed 
of your movements must be often based upon that 
assumption. Between these two conflicting principles 
you must learn to make a happy compromise; yield- 
ing sometimes almost entirely to one, sometimes 
almost entirely to the other; sometimes taking the 
golden mean between the two. 

Here we are on the ridges at last. And you at once 
see signs of deer about you. Here, there, and every- 
where are places where sharp-toed hoofs have pressed 
down the dead leaves. In some places they have cut 
through the leaves. In some places they have pressed 
a damp leaf into the ground so that it forms a lining 
to the track. Pick up a few of the dry leaves and see 
if any of those lying next the damp ones below are 
moistened any on the under side. Here is one with a 
distinct trace of dampness where it has been pressed 
against a wet one below. The leaf has had no time 
to dry since it was done. Here, too, close beside it 
are droppings that have had no time to dry (or freeze, 
if it be cold weather). Put your fingers in several of 
these footprints and see if they are not of different 
sizes. Observe the size also of the droppings. Let 
nothing escape you that will indicate the number of 
the deer, so that you do not mistake the work of one 
for that of half a dozen. Here is a bit of ground that 
is quite bare. And upon it are plainly visible three 
different-sized tracks. One is that of a big buck 



62 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

The others are tracks of a doe and fawn. The edges 
of the tracks and the bottom of the depressions are 
clear-cut, smooth, and fresh-looking, in that appear- 
ance so impossible to describe. A little more inspec- 
tion shows that the droppings, too, all vary in size. 

Look carefully now all around as far as you can see. 
But do not look for a deer. Remember this singular 
advice. Do not forget it for a moment. One of the 
greatest troubles that besets the beginner is looking 
all the \\vs\Q. for a deer. If the artist's deer is in sight 
you will see him quickly enough. Never mind that 
beast at all. Spend all your time in looking for spots 
and patches of light gray, dark gray, brown, or even 
black. Examine all you can see from only the size of 
your hand to the size of a small goat. Never mind 
the shape of them. Examine, too, everything that 
looks like the thick part of a thicket, and every blur 
or indistinct outline in a brush. No matter how 
much it may look like a bit of stump, fallen log, shade, 
or tangle of brush, or how little it may in shape re- 
semble a deer; if it is in brush, or anywhere where you 
cannot see clearly what it is, give it a second, even a 
third, look. Look low, too, very low, along the ground. 
And be very careful how you run your eye over a bit 
of brush, deciding that it is too low for a deer to be in 
without your seeing him. Not only does a deer in the 
woods generally look entirely unlike the deer that 
stands in Imagination's park, but it does not stand half 
so high in the woods as it does in that park. When un- 
suspicious, a deer often has his head down, and this, 
too, makes him still lower. You need not be looking 
at this time of day for a deer lying down, but look 
ftist as low along the ground as if you were looking 
for one lying down. 



LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 63 

There are numerous such spots, patches, and blurs 
in view. But under a keen scrutiny they all fade into 
stumps, pieces of log, etc., and you are satisfied that 
there is nothing in sight. 

Before going on, now, stop a moment and take a 
very important lesson. You see that the ground in 
every direction is dented with tracks. There is scarcely 
a square foot anywhere without two or three or half 
a dozen prints in it. You see, too, droppings in every 
direction. Now nearly every tyro, and a great many 
who have hunted enough to know better, will think 
at once of not less than forty deer. They will not 
so express it in words. And if asked directly how 
many they thought had made all these tracks, they 
would doubtless tone it down to eighteen or twenty. 
But the latent idea that remains in their mind is of 
about forty deer. 

Now all these tracks and dropping were probably 
made by only three deer. There may have been five or 
six; perhaps another doe and fawn or two fawns. Or 
perhaps another old buck and a yearling or two-year- 
old buck. But if you examine the age and size of 
the tracks and droppings, you will see how three deer 
visiting this ground every day could in two or three 
weeks make all this amount of indications. You can- 
not say positively that they alone did it. But they 
could have done it. And the probability is that they 
did. You cannot see the proof of this now. For that 
you must wait until snow comes or until you can get 
on bare ground where you can track well and can see 
just how a few deer can mark ground. Until then 
take my word for it. For a proper idea of how many 
deer there are about you will save you a large amount 
of wondering, disappointment, and vexation, as well 



64 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

as help you direct your steps to the most proper places 
to search for what they are. Few things so perplex 
the beginner and make him go wandering so aimlessly 
about the woods, expecting to see deer every minute 
yet ever fretting with disappointment, as exaggerated 
notions of the quantity of deer around him. 

Here you see where the buck has gone down the 
side of the ridge we are on and across the fiat below. 
He has doubtless crossed the next ridge. Although 
it is generally not worth while to track an old buck 
at this time of year, especially when the ground is 
bare — a thing almost impossible where tracks are so 
numerous as they are here — yet at this time of the 
morning fresh tracks are an excellent guide, and it is 
often best to take a look in the direction in which 
they have gone. Remember what I told you about 
the quantity of deer. You will see the expediency of 
doing this instead of roaming idly off in any direction. 

In moving across this flat between this and the next 
ridge you may now go quite fast. But be still cau- 
tious about noise. And above all things tread on no 
dead sticks. 

Here, you see, is the track again where the buck 
has gone up the next ridge. But it turns off and goes 
toward the neck of land that joins this ridge to the 
one we just left. No matter, though ; he may have 
turned again. Now look over the ridge just as keenly 
as if you knew he were in the next hollow. 

Slowly now ! very slowly ! For your head is about 
to rise over the crest of the ridge and come in plain 
sight of everything on the next ridge beyond and in 
the hollow between. Drop your gun, too, from your 
shoulder. 

Here are two important points, the neglect of 



LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 65 

which causes even quite good hunters to lose many a 
deer. Many a one brings half his body into view at 
once before he fairly begins to look. Then his gun 
remains on his shoulder, flashing in the sun perhaps, 
swinging as he turns his body to look from right to 
left, always making an unnecessary amount of plainly- 
visible motion if it should be necessary to lower it to 
shoot. You remember what I told you about the 
quickness of a deer's eye to catch a motion. Should 
you happen to bring your head in view of the deer at 
the time when he happens to have his head up and be 
watching — which is at least one half and often two 
thirds of his time when on foot — he is almost certain 
to see you unless you raise your head as little as pos- 
sible and do it very slowly. This is extremely im- 
portant in antelope-stalking; but its importance in 
deer-hunting, even in heavy timber, must never be 
underrated. Therefore make this a habit, so that you 
come to do it unconsciously — to drop your gun al- 
ways in going up the crest of a ridge; to show no more 
of your head than is absolutely necessary; to inspect 
the ground beyond, layer by layer, beginning with the 
farthest ground on the ridge beyond and running 
gradually down into the hollow. An exception to this 
would be when you know the game is in the hollow, 
when you know it to be alarmed or moving, or when 
your scent can blow over the ridge into the hollow. 
In such case it may be best to get on your hands and 
knees to look over instead of showing your whole 
body to anything that may be on the slopes beyond. 
And you never need your gun on your shoulder at 
such times. Cultivate this habit at once. It will cost 
you a minute or two of tigije only, requires no extra 
work, and will secure you many a good standing shot 



66 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

where you would otherwise get only a wild running 
one or too long a standing one. 

A long and careful look over the ground beyond 
shows you no game. You however notice plenty of 
tracks on this ridge also. And careful examination 
will show you that they were made by the very same 
deer that tracked up the last ridge. 

Here, too, are three or four smooth, oval depres- 
sions in the ground about two or two and a half feet 
long and about half as wide. The leaves in them are 
pressed down nice and fiat, and there are some quite 
fresh tracks in them made after the occupant rose. I 
need hardly tell you that they are beds; but I do need 
to tell you that they are night beds. Therefore you 
need not expect to see a deer lying at the foot of the 
next tree or under the next bush. 

The distinction between beds made by deer at night 
and those made by them during the day is important, 
and one almost certain to be overlooked by the unas- 
sisted beginner. And it is almost certain to make 
him waste much time and temper in searching for 
deer on ground where they lie only at night, while 
they are lying down perhaps a mile away. This sub- 
ject properly belongs to another chapter, but I call 
your attention to it now that you may lose no time 
with these beds. The distinction is this. Deer will at 
night lie down almost anywhere; but if disturbed by 
hunting or otherwise they will hardly ever lie down 
by day on or near their feeding-ground, or near their 
watering-place, or on any ground except such as, in a 
subsequent chapter, I shall describe as "lying-down 
ground." 

Instead of crossing this ridge and going to the next 
one, keep along the side you are now on, but just 



LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 67 

enough below the crest to see over and along the top 
of the ridge. Follow it along in this way until you 
reach the neck of land that connects this ridge with 
the one you were last on. Then peep as cautiously 
over this as you did over the last ridge. 

You see several new ridges leading away in various 
directions, with nice little hollows between them con- 
taining charming places for a deer to stand in or feed 
in. But you see nothing resembling a deer. Pass on, 
then, along the main backbone of the ridges, and keep 
a keen watch from side to side, being careful about 
showing too much of yourself or showing even the 
upper half of your head too quickly to anything that 
might be in any of the hollows; and examine the tops 
and sides of every ridge as carefully as you can. 

Here, you see, are some more beds; and the tracks 
in two of them are of different size from those we saw 
before, which shows that within a quarter of a mile 
there have been since last evening at least five, prob- 
ably six and perhaps seven, different deer. These, 
too, are only night-beds, and the occupants may now 
be half a mile or more away. But as it is not yet 
time to lie down, they may be only a hundred yards 
away. And now you may walk still more slowly, for 
the chances of being near a deer are increasing. Of 
course the more plenty deer are, the more carefully 
you must move. 

But see here! What is this? Down the sloping 
side of a ridge the ground is torn up and the fresh 
dirt and leaves thrown about. There are four such 
places nearly together. In some of them there are 
plain marks of two long split-hoofs and two prints of 
dew-claws just back of them. Here is another set of 
such marks fifteen feet farther on, and again about 



68 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

twelve feet beyond these last. The dirt thrown out is 
dark, soft, and damp. The bottom of the torn-up 
place is in some spots clean, smooth, and even shiny 
You need not be told what mean these long plunging 
jumps of sharp-edged hoofs. But to take a good les- 
son, follow the track back a few jumps. 

It leads back to the top of the ridge and stops at a 
small clump of bushes about waist-high. Here, you 
see, are some fresh tracks and droppings of a pretty 
large deer. Here, too, are the ends of many twigs all 
freshly bitten off. Mark, too, the direction of the 
tracks the biter made as he stood here browsing. 
You find that they point toward where you were a 
minute or two ago. "It could not have been pos- 
sible," do you think ? It does indeed seem strange 
that a deer could have been standing in brush so low 
and thin as this and you not see him. But that he 
should run away in full bounding career without your 
seeing or hearing him does seem incredible. 

Now put a pifece of paper on these freshly bitten 
twigs and then take your track back to the place 
where you first come in sight of the paper. 

Following your track back some sixty yards along 
the ridge, we reach a point where the paper first be- 
comes visible. And behold ! you can almost see 
through all that brush, and it appears not over two 
feet high ! 

Now mark well your error, and never forget it. It 
is not at all likely that he either heard or smelt you, 
for you were going with extreme caution, and a gentle 
breeze was rising and was in your face. But you 
passed your eye too carelessly over that brush just 
because it was so low and thin. You thought of course 
you could see everything there. You were hunting 



LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 69 

in Fancy's park again and forgot that you were in the 
woods ; and when you raised your head more and 
were looking around to the right he saw you, and 
two jumps took him out of sight. Remember again 
what I told you, that a deer is not six feet high in the 
woods, and does not spend his time in posing for a 
sculptor or artist. 

It will be quite useless now to go in the direction 
in which he ran ; for not only do you stand little 
chance of seeing him, but he will probably stampede 
all deer along his course. 

You now wander along for nearly half a mile, seeing 
plenty of fresh signs of deer, enough, combined with 
what you have already seen, to justify the conclusion 
that at least fifteen deer have fed on these ridges this 
morning; and that is quite plenty enough to satisfy 
any reasonable being. You begin to feel a strong 
hope that you will soon see something. 

You do see something, but it is another set of long, 
plunging jumps. Follow them back and see how you 
lost the deer. As long as you hunt, no matter how 
old you may grow in experience, make it your custom 
whenever you lose a deer to study how you lost him. 
This may occupy a little time at first, but in the end 
it will well repay you. 

Following the jumps back, you find that the deer 
was standing on the clear open top of the ridge when 
he started. The direction of the wind shows that he 
did not smell you; it is not at all likely that he heard 
you, for you were moving very quietly and were also 
down the wind from him, just as in the other case; 
and a glance back at the ground over which you came 
shows that you could have seen him at least a hun- 
dred and fifty yards off. 



70 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

To one having much pride in his acuteness of sight 
this would seem good proof that some other cause or 
thing had startled the deer. But you had better lay 
aside all your pride, and remember that this fact may 
also prove that a deer in the woods can see you and 
run away without your ever seeing him run. And 
this can happen in woods and on ridges much more 
open than these are. You probably passed your eye 
directly over a small, dim, dark-grayish spot far away 
among the tree-trunks without a suspicion of what it 
was; and as your eye wandered on around the circle 
of vision you never noticed its disappearance. Your 
trouble is that you cannot yet comprehend in the con- 
crete what you already are beginning to realize in 
the abstract — the difficulty of recognizing your game 
under the circumstances under which you are most 
likely to meet it. Your scrutiny of the woods is as 
yet entirely too general, and is not one half as keen as 
you flatter yourself it is. 

You now pass over nearly half a mile, when sud- 
denly you see a grand old buck standing in a thicket 
a hundred and fifty yards away. There he stands in 
all the majesty of the buck on the powder-flask, with 
his big antlers, big neck, big body, and all. 

No; do not shoot from here. He suspects nothing, 
and will stand there a few minutes. You can easily 
get close enough for a sure shot. Back off from this 
ridge and work around its point. That will bring 
you to that large fallen log that lies within seventy- 
five yards of him. 

With chattering teeth, quaking heart, and crawling 
hair you finally reach the fallen tree. Taking a cau- 
tious look, you see n,othing ; a still more keen and 
cautious look reveals only a greater intensity of noth- 



LOOKING FOR DEER THAT ARE ON FOOT. 71 

ing. After more looking and carefully advancing 
you reach the place where he was. But there is noth- 
ing there, and there are no fresh tracks, signs, or jumps 
to show that a deer has been there within two days. 
You lean against a huge piece of fallen white-oak that 
has lodged in some brush among some upturned roots 
and of charred trunks of fallen pine, and wonder where 
your deer is. 

Well, go back to the ridge and look at the log 
against which you are leaning, and take a lesson quite 
as important as any you could possibly take to-day; 
namely, how a deer does not look in the woods. At that 
distance and among that kind of stuff a deer would 
not be one third as large or distinct as what you saw; 
and if he were standing there motionless it would take 
the very keenest of eyes to detect him. 

The sun is now getting so high that most of the 
deer have probably left the ridges and gone off to lie 
down; and we will leave them for another time. But 
be not discouraged in the least by the facj that you 
have seen no deer. You have learned far more than 
if you had shot one. For if you had killed one you 
would probably have sat for a week beneath a cata- 
ract of joy and conceit, perfectly blind to all one could 
tell you. Few things are so fatal to ultimate success 
as an early germination of the idea that you are "a 
pretty smart chap on deer." It is almost as ruinous 
as the idea that you are a poet. The teachers you 
need are disappointment and humiliation. If these 
cure you of still-hunting, it is well; for it proves you 
were not born for that, and the sooner you quit it the 
better. But if there is any of the true spirit in you, 
defeat will only inspire you. You will learn more 
from your failures than many do from success, and 



72 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

they will arouse you to double care, double energy, 
double keenness, and double hope. 

The analysis of error is a far better source of in- 
struction than the analysis of truth. For this reason 
we will at first study failures more than successes. 
And this will be rendered all the more easy by the 
fact that at first you will probably have little besides 
error to study. 



LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 73 



CHAPTER VII. 

LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 

Having failed to see deer on foot during their feed- 
ing or lounging time of the morning, the next best 
thing is to seek them where they have gone to lie 
down during the main part of the day. It is some- 
times more easy to find them in this way than when 
they are on foot, though it is generally harder. It is 
generally so very difficult to see one in bed at all that 
you are mainly confined in this kind of hunting to 
what is known as "jumping a deer;" that is, starting 
him from his bed, and firing at him as he bounds away 
or waiting until he stops to look back a moment, as 
deer generally do if little disturbed. 

From the loose talk among hunters and the care- 
less pens of writers about "jumping" deer the begin- 
ner is very apt to fancy it something like kicking up 
a hare from its form and rolling it over with a charge 
of shot as it scuds away. He is very apt to go march- 
ing confidently about expecting to see a deer hop out 
of any bush within twenty or thirty yards. This will 
occasionally happen, especially if the wind be right 
and the ground soft enough for silent walking. But 
three times out of four "jumping" a deer is what you 
shall soon see for yourself. 

When entirely undisturbed by man deer will lie 
down in the daytime as they do at night — almost any- 



74 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

where. But even then they show a decided prefer- 
ence for the following kinds of ground: 

1. The points and backs of ridges, especially if 
brushy. 

2. The brushy heads of little ravines and hollows, 

3. Windfalls and choppings, especially when old 
and brushy. 

4. Thin thickets containing fallen logs or trees. 

5. Heavy thickets without fallen logs or trees. 

6. Patches of heavy fern or willow in little valleys. 

7. Little plateaus, knobs, or terraces on hill-sides. 
In open country in addition to the above-named 

places, if there are any, they will take — 

8. The long grass or heavy weeds of sloughs or 
swales. 

9. The brushy edges and center of patches of scrub 
timber. 

10. Hill-sides with scattered trees or bushes. 

11. The bottoms of cafions, gullies, and shady ra- 
vines, with the side pockets, etc., connected with them. 

12. Brushy basins and the brushy bottoms of creeks 
and rivers. 

13. The shade of big rocks, etc. 

14. Bare ground under a tree on a hill-side, ridge, 
or in a valley, lying there just as cattle do. 

There are many other places in which they spend 
the day, such as swamps, heavy chapparal, etc. But 
in all such places it is not worth while to hunt at all 
in this way. 

If little disturbed they will not generally go far 
from their feeding-ground or watering-place to lie 
down. I have, however, known deer that scarcely 
ever saw or heard a man go as far back as three miles 
and as high up as five thousand feet from their feed- 



LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 76 

ing and watering place. It is only in very high and 
quite dry mountains that they are likely to do this, 
though flies, heat, and other causes may make them 
sometimes go far back anywhere. 

Much hunting is, however, almost sure to drive 
them farther back, to make them take the thickest 
brush and the highest ground. And in mountainous 
country it is quite certain to drive them to higher 
ground, from which they will descend only at night. 
And there is then little ground too high or too rough 
for them. They are apt, too, to go farther back 
about the full of the moon, though I find the moon 
makes little practical difference about the distance 
deer go back. It affects more the time of going. 

In winter deer are quite certain to lie in the sun. 
In summer they are quite as certain to lie in shade. 
In autumn they often do both, lying in the sun dur- 
ing the cool part of the morning (though they are 
then more apt to stand in the sun), and changing to 
the shade when it becomes warm. They seldom lie 
down where they will be disturbed with noises that 
make them get up often and look, such as wagons, 
cattle, etc. Yet they care nothing for the plain noise 
of people if it be distant. 

Just when and where a deei may be expected to lie 
down it is, of course, impossible to say. Like many 
other kinds of game, they are provokingly irregular 
in their habits, and do not appreciate your kindness 
in picking out nice lying-places for them, but prefer 
to make their own selection. If you cannot track, 
you can only travel on, on, on over such ground as is 
above described and have patience until something 
starts. 

The same caution that was needful before must be 



76 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

Still observed. In regard to noise from your feet you 
must be even more cautious than when looking for 
deer on foot; since they will hear noise from your 
feet more readily when lying with head near the 
ground than when standing. 

Though a deer cannot smell or see you quite so 
readily when lying down as when on foot, he can still 
do either quickly enough. A deer lies generally with 
head up and sometimes with it laid over on one side; 
but in either case is nearly always listening and 
watching. Occasionally a deer falls in the daytime 
into a light doze, and once in a while you may thus 
get very close to one before he springs. In such case 
he is very apt to stop after a jump or two. But the 
times when a deer thus loses himself in the daytime 
are very rare, and nearly all his sleeping is done at 
night. And even if he were sound asleep in the day- 
time, it would not allow of any carelessness in ap- 
proaching him. His senses are not to be trifled with 
under any circumstances. So that the question of a 
deer's sleeping by day is of no practical importance. 

Sometimes a deer will purposely lie still when he 
hears a person. This kind of lying close will rarely 
or never trouble you on the kind of ground we are 
now considering. All your trouble will be the other 
way. 

Sometimes it is quite easy to see a deer while in bed; 
as where they are in open timber or open bluffy country 
with little heavy brush, but with snow on the ground 
and the country rolling enough to allow you to get 
well above them so as to look down upon them. At 
such times every dark-looking oval spot, no matter 
how much it may resemble a stump, requires close 
inspection. Where they are lying under trees on open 




Leaving an Empty Bed. 



LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 77 

ridges, along hill-sides, or in valleys, it is also quite 
easy to see them; as in much of the ground that deer 
frequent in California and countries of similar moun- 
tain formation, before they are hunted too much. But 
in the Eastern States a deer will now be rarely or 
never found lying by day in such a place. 

You must be careful, therefore, how you waste much 
time in trying to see deer in bed. Where the ground 
is very rocky, brushy, or covered with windfalls, if 
there is no snow, or even if there is snow unless the 
ground is quite rolling, it will not be worth while to 
try to see them so. In such case your object should 
generally be to get over the greatest amount of ground 
with the least noise, depending entirely upon starting 
one close enough for a shot. And even on ground 
where deer can be seen you must strain your eyes to 
the utmost, for it is even then no very easy matter to 
see one in bed. 

Very rarely does a deer lie twice in the same bed. 
A fat old buck late in summer or in early fall, before 
he begins to roam much, will sometimes do it. Any 
deer may sometimes lie for several days on a piece of 
a few acres, though roaming a mile or more away from 
it at night. Fawns and does, as well as barren does 
and yearlings, will sometimes lie twice in the same 
bush and even in the very same bed of the day before 
or beside it. But the rule is very decidedly the other 
way. Though deer often keep for years in the same 
orbit of a mile or so in diameter, they change their 
special whereabouts so often that as a rule it will 
never be worth while to hunt around old beds; and 
when you have started a deer from a particular bed 
you need not, as a rule, expect to find him either there 



78 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

or very near by it for two or three or four days and 
often more. 

One of the most natural blunders a beginner will 
make is to spend the middle of the day hunting around 
the oak ridges or wherever he sees the most tracks, 
when in fact most of the deer are half a mile or a mile 
away. I have already noticed the distinction between 
night-beds and day-beds, and between ground where 
deer feed and where they go to lie down. You must 
bear this ever in mind or you may lose much time in 
hunting where your game was two or three hours or 
more ago and a half-mile or more from where it now is. 

Let us therefore leave the ridges, as it is ten o'clock 
and the majority of the deer are now lying down. Half 
a mile to the north are some very brushy ridges and 
windfalls, and just beyond them is a large piece of 
ground from which the pine has been cut out. This 
is known to the woodsmen and hunters as a "slash" 
or "chopping." A pine "slash" is about as rough a 
piece of ground as is possibly consistent with still- 
hunting. It is covered in all directions with tree-tops, 
logs too small or too broken by falling to make good 
lumber, small brush and trees crushed by the larger 
ones, stumps and branches of all sizes, and the whole 
is well covered with briers, saplings, and brush. But 
there is no other ground that the deer so loves to lie 
down in during the cool bright days of autumn and 
the sunny days of winter. 

Here is a large windfall just ahead. It will bear in- 
spection. Mounting one of the huge fallen trunks on 
the outside, we see nothing but great shafts of timber 
lying headlong in ruinous confusion, mixed through- 
out with great upturned roots, crushed tops, and shat- 
tered limbs, and throughout all a rank growth of 



LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 79 

briers and young brush. But wherever we see the 
bare ground distinctly there are signs of deer. See 
that smooth oval depression in the ground on the 
sunny side of those great upturned roots of a pine. 
A deer lay there yesterday; and if he has not been dis- 
turbed it is not at all unlikely that he is here now. 

Hark! Did your ear catch that faint crack of brush 
about a hundred yards off? No. Yet dull and un- 
trained, your ear did not notice it. And if it had no- 
ticed it, it would doubtless have taken it for a squirrel 
or a bird. 

We reach the other side of the windfall without 
seeing anything. Let us, however, take a circuit 
around the edge and see if anything has gone out. 
What is that mark on the ground about twenty yards 
ahead ? Some leaves are upturned. They look moist 
on one side. The dirt, too, is dark, damp, and soft, 
and shows plainly the imprint of four feet that have 
come plunging into it from above. Look back over 
this log and see if you do not find some more tracks 
there. 

You find them readily. And several feet farther 
back toward the main body of the windfall you find 
more. 

Well, we have "jumped " a deer at last. Let us try 
another and see if we cannot get at least a view of 
him as he jumps. 

Do you see those brushy ridges with the ends point- 
ing this way, some two hundred yards away, just vis- 
ible in the distance? The backs and points of those 
are worth examining when deer are so plenty as they 
now are here. Make a wide circuit to the left so 
as to reach the backbone of the first ridge a hun- 
dred and fifty yards or more from its point. Then go 



80 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

carefully out to the point. If you see nothing, retrace 
your steps and take the next ridge the same way. 

Too much trouble for an uncertainty, do you think? 
Then by all means have your own way and go straight 
to the point. You may learn more in that way. But 
you will yet see the day when you will take far more 
trouble than that for an uncertainty. 

On you go to the first point, travel down that ridge 
and across to the next one. Up that and down the 
next one you think you will go, when suddenly you 
find some more tracks of long plunging jumps. They 
look so fresh that you had better follow them back 
to where they came from. 

They lead you to the very point of the second ridge, 
and there, in a bunch of thin brush, you find a fresh 
warm bed about fifteen feet from where the occu- 
pant's hoofs tore up the dirt at the first place he 
struck the ground. Now stoop down in the bed until 
your head is about eighteen inches from the ground. 
Do you notice now how you can see over nearly the 
whole of the low ground over which you passed in 
coming to the other ridge? The deer might possibly 
have heard you. But as he could have seen you, we 
need not seek any other explanation. Now if you 
had followed my advice, he could not have seen you 
until you were quite close; you would have had the 
same advantage of the wind, for it is blowing across 
the ridges; you might have got a shot at him as he 
was running away over the level ground; and if he 
had run around either side of the ridge you would 
probably have heard his hoofs, and by a quick dash to 
that side of the ridge you might have got a shot at 
him. At all events, you would at least have seen him, 



LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 81 

which would be no small pleasure to one who has 
never yet seen a wild deer in his native woods. 

And now we are in sight of the old "chopping" or 
''slash," a clearing with an occasional tall dead, 
burned or blasted tree standing amid a general soli- 
tude of logs and brush. 

You must now study four things in the following 
order of relative importance : 

ist. To avoid noise in walking. 

2d. To avoid going down the wind. 

3d. To keep on as high ground as is consistent 
with quiet walking and the wind. 

4th. To keep the sun on your back. 

The first three of these we have already considered, 
and you know their importance. For hunting open 
ground the fourth often becomes of great importance; 
and it is sometimes an advantage worth all the rest 
together. In hunting ground as open as a " slash," it 
is sometimes quite important, especially if there are 
any deer in it still on foot, which is often the case, as 
deer do not reserve a slash exclusively for siestas. And 
on all kinds of ground it is an advantage that should 
always be taken where it can be done without sacri- 
fice of the others. 

Under the head of shooting with the rifle we shall 
examine the difficulties of shooting toward the sun, 
especially when it is near the horizon, the time when 
you will be most apt to get shots at deer. Now to hunt 
toward the sun is often to have to shoot toward the sun. 
And the more you can avoid this the better. So much 
is this the case that if you are hunting down a nar- 
row shallow ravine or gulch from which you expect 
to jump a deer and will have to take a running shot 
along or up one side or across the ridge or open 



82 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

ground on the other side, you had better walk on the 
side toward the sun even though it be the windward 
side and be the most difficult one upon which to move 
quietly. This principle holds with more or less force 
in all cases where your game will be likely to run 
toward the sun, especially if up hill. 

But there is another reason quite as strong which 
is of immense advantage in such kinds of open ground 
as prairie, table-lands, etc., where you often see deer 
at a long distance. If you have the sun on your own 
back and full on a deer's coat, he will strike your eye 
twice as far or twice as quickly as if the case were re- 
versed. When the sun is the other way you may 
sometimes see at a long distance the sheen as the sun 
glances from the hair on a deer's back. But as a rule, 
the practical effect of having the sun beyond the deer 
is to make the deer stand in shade. You need scarcely 
be told that this makes him much harder to see, aside 
from the dazzling effect of the sun upon your eyes. 
And when you are in the sun and the deer has it be- 
hind him, it is as much easier for him to see you as it 
is easier for you to see him when you have the sun on 
your back and it is shining full upon his jacket. And 
there is so much sunshine in these old choppings or 
slashes that you should give this point all the at- 
tention possibly consistent with a due regard to the 
others. 

For an hour you toil through the bristly beard of 
the old clearing, picking your way through old 
logging-roads or other open places, when you come to 
another series of tracks made by plunging hoofs and 
ten or fifteen feet apart. Examination shows that a 
doe and two full-grown fawns have just vacated a bit 
of brush among some old logs in a manner savoring 



LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 83 

decidedly of expedition. And yet you have seen and 
heard nothing. But you are doing something of much 
more ultimate use to you than seeing or even bagging 
a deer could possibly be. You are learning at last 
what it means to "jump a deer." It means generally 
out of shot, often out of hearing, frequently even out 
of sight. 

Well, let us move along. The ground is getting 
higher and more broken and is nearing a creek bot- 
tom. This bottom is covered with "hard-wood " tim- 
ber, and some of it begins to appear upon the ground 
we are now on. 

But hark! What is that? A sound like the distant 
hoof of a horse in slow gallop, coming from the side 
of the hill toward the creek bottom. 

And now see how naturally you will do just the very 
thing you should not do — a thing the beginner is 
almost certain to do at first if left to himself. You 
sneak cautiously to the edge of the hill and peer keenly 
over in the direction from which the sound came. 
You think you see about everything there is to be 
seen. And you are about right. For that dark, dim 
spot in the edge of the timber that faded away with a 
single whisk into the dark depths of the timber was 
hardly to be seen by even the keenest eyes until just 
too late to shoot. 

While you were sneaking so cautiously a deer was 
getting swiftly away, and stopped in the edge of the 
heavy timber to look back. He then saw your hat 
rise slowly over the edge of the hill As he was 
standing still and you were moving he had every ad- 
vantage of you. He saw you at once and left before 
your eye got around to where he was. But you prob- 
ably would not have seen him even had you turned 



84 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

your glance at once upon him, for a deer in such tim- 
ber is very hard to see. And even if you had seen 
him he would undoubtedly have seen you first, and 
would probably have started before you could take a 
shot. Now if at the first sound of hoofs you had run 
at top speed for the edge of the hill you would have re- 
versed all this. You would have come in sight of him 
before he stopped running. If you had then stopped 
instantly, you would have had either a running shot 
or a good standing shot as soon as he stopped. For, 
not seeing you if you were motionless, he would have 
paused a moment or two before going on. In such a 
case don't stop even to reload your rifle, as you can 
run to the edge and then load with much more chance 
of success than by loading first and then going. 

This is a principle that must never be forgotten. 
The advantage that one of two persons or animals at 
rest has over the other one moving, is immense. And 
if a deer in any way gets this advantage you will 
rarely get him, if very wild, except by a long running 
shot. With antelope it is still more fatal to success. 
And even to the tamest deer this advantage must 
never be given, but should be always retained by the 
hunter. There are many cases in which you cannot 
prevent a deer from having it, and such constitute 
a large part of what is known as the " luck against 
you." 

It is now getting toward the middle of the after- 
noon and is time to work toward the oak ridges again. 
In hunting them observe the same rules that you ob- 
served this morning. But remember that as night 
approaches it becomes very hard to distinguish a deer 
among the tree-trunks, even though other objects still 
remain quite distinct. 



LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 85 

Night drops at last her dark pall around your hopes. 
You wend your way homeward with gloomy face and 
heavy heart. 

Yet why despond? You cannot expect to learn an 
art in a day or two. You have made progress enough 
already. You have learned what deer-hunting is not. 
You do not yet realize in a practical form the exces- 
sive amount of caution necessary. You still step too 
hard; let your clothes touch too much brush; your 
eyes are yet too dull; and you make many mistakes 
of strategy. 

But there is no ground for discouragement. It took 
me just eleven days, where deer were plenty, too, but 
very wild, to get sight of 7ny first deer. Humiliating to 
confess, but I confess for your benefit. The causes 
were books, dry leaves, still days, and totally erro- 
neous notions derived from pictures, hunting-stories, 
old hunters' gabble, etc., without any book or friend to 
help me. 



86 THE STILL.HUNTER. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 

By the first shimmer of light from the eastern arch 
you tread again the oak ridges. Disappointment in- 
stead of discouraging you has only spurred your 
spirits to the prancing point. The woods, too, begin 
to seem more like home than before, and your eyes 
take in with swifter and more comprehensive glance 
the various sights of the forest. Far quicker and 
farther than ever before and with only a side glance 
you detect the tip of the squirrel's bushy tail or his 
little ears as he peers inquiringly at you through 
some fork of a tree. Almost without looking you see 
the ruffed grouse spread his banded fan-like tail and 
walk over the dead leaves in the heavy thicket 
along the creek. And far faster and more keenly 
your eye darts down the long forest aisles and 
among the dark colonnades of tree-trunks, and sees 
everything very much more plainly than before. All 
but the thing you wish to see! All around you are 
tokens enough of its recent presence, but it seems a 
kind of spiritual slipperiness that eludes all your 
senses. 

You will now observe all the precautions given you 
before and wind along and over the ridges, sometimes 
crossing them directly, sometimes quartering over 
them, sometimes traveling behind the crest, some- 
times moving directly upon the top; according to 



THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 87 

shape of ground, direction of wind, and facilities for 
quietly moving. 

Suddenly your eye rests upon a dim spot of dark 
gray on a ridge a hundred and fifty yards off. A 
strange feeling overwhelms you at once, for there is 
about it a something — an indescribable something — 
that never would have caught your eye before, but 
now does most decidedly catch it. But then it does 
not look in the least like — 

Ha! It moves, and in a moment slides slowly out 
of sight over the ridge. 

Why, that must have been a — 

Of course. What other thing of that color would 
be there at this time of day? Its head and legs were 
out of sight beyond the crest of the ridge, so that you 
could distinguish nothing that looked much like an 
animal. 

And now what will you do about it ? Seeing a deer 
is by no means getting a shot at it, and getting a shot 
is often a long way from bagging it. I will leave you 
to yourself and let you see how naturally you will do 
the wrong thing. 

With stealthy step you cross the hollow directly in 
line with the spot where the deer disappeared. By 
the time you get half way to the top of the ridge a 
faint thump -k-thu77ip comes from the other side. Re- 
membering your experience of yesterday, you dash to 
the crest and arrive there just in time to see — nothing. 
You had just a little too far to run; it was up hill 
also; and the deer needed but a few bounds to disap- 
pear in the heavy timber of the fiat below. 

And how did you lose him ? Well, he was feeding 
slowly along, and was just below where you last saw 
him when you came to the foot of the ridge. You 



88 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

went quietly enough; that is, about as quietly as any 
one could go on such ground. But the ridge was 
both narrow and low, and it would have been nearly 
impossible on leaves, and would have been hard enough 
even on snow, to approach close enough to see him 
without his hearing your steps. Now the wind would 
have allowed you to swing around the point of the 
ridge toward which he was feeding, which would 
have brought you eighty or ninety yards ahead of 
him and directly on his course. From that point you 
could either have shot or have lain and watched his 
movements, and perhaps have had him feed toward 
you. Or you might have swung around the other 
way and have come in behind him. But this course 
would have been unsafe if the deer were moving at 
any speed, as it would have brought you in too far 
behind him, and the deer is such a fast walker that 
you could not have overtaken him without making 
too much noise. You might also have waited a while 
in the fiat to advantage. For he either might have 
appeared on the ridge again or would have had more 
time to get off the other side or farther along it, so 
that you could have got in sight of him without his 
hearing you. As it was, you would have had to get 
within fifteen or twenty yards of him to see him at 
all; a thing extremely hard to do even on soft snow. 

Four or five more ridges are crossed, and as you are 
winding along the back of another one there is a sud- 
den flash of white among the dark tree-trunks two 
hundred yards ahead; another second and it flashes 
again, but more faintly; another dim flash, and it is 
gone. 

There is no need of desponding, however. You are 
doing finely. You are making progress enough in 



THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 89 

getting sight of them at all. And never shall you see 
the time when, in spite of all your care, the white flag 
will not occasionally wave you such a farewell. You 
were not to blame; for there are times when a deer 
will see the hunter first and no amount of skill or 
caution on his part can prevent it. Still, you might as 
well allow this escape to intensify your caution about 
walking quietly, as well as your keenness of vision. 

Old Phoebus has his wain hitched up at last; its 
glowing axle is climbing fast the eastern sky; the 
tree-tops begin to whisper in the rising breeze. It is 
time the deer were beginning to move toward their 
lying-down ground, and we might as well work that 
way. But let us not go too fast. 

Stop ! There is one just below the crest of yonder 
ridge; just in the edge of a little clump of brush; 
about ten feet to the left of that tall basswood. 

You cannot see any deer? Do you not see that 
dark low thing shaped nearly like a piece of log — 
right in the edge of the brush ? 

That is no deer ? Well, if you cannot take my word 
for it, go on and satisfy yourself. Show more of your 
head and shoulders, of course. Smash a stick or two 
while twisting your head around for a better view. 

As you raise your head for a better view there is a 
sudden change. Something like the deer of the artist 
is suddenly standing beside the bush, looking rather 
small, it is true, but an unmistakable picture-deer, 
vastly different from what you saw a second ago and 
very pretty and sculpturesque. It stands just long 
enough to allow you to think of your rifle; then there 
is a graceful undulation of white banner over the 
ridge; and in a second you are again gazing sadly at 
vacancy. 



90 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

We are now nearing the old pine-chopping or 
"slash," but before going into it let us inspect that 
mass of wind-fallen timber on the right. Swing 
around to the leeward side, mount a high log and go 
on through the windfall, moving as far as possible 
upon tree-trunks and logs. 

One third of it is thus passed when there is a sud- 
den crack of brush and over a distant log whirls a curv- 
ing mass of gray. As you raise your rifle with con- 
vulsive jerk, down goes the gray over the log with an 
upward flirt of a snowy tail. Up it comes again, and 
curving over the next huge trunk goes plunging out 
of sight behind it, just as you try to catch a sight with 
the rifle. Away it goes over log after log, with the 
white banner flaunting high as the curving gray goes 
down; in an instant it clears the last log; glimmers 
for a second on the open ground beyond, and fades in 
a twinkling over a little rise. 

No occasion for desponding now either. You did 
just right. No one could have seen that deer stand- 
ing still or lying down in there. The only chance was 
to "jump" him and take a running shot. And such a 
hurdle-leaper is one of the hardest things in the world 
to hit. You actually did better to stand and watch it 
without shooting at all than you would have done had 
you fired without seeing your rifle-sight or making 
any calculations for the deer's up-and-down motion. 

And here we are at the slash. Now remember the 
points about hunting it that you learned the last time. 

For nearly an hour you thread the open places, 
picking your way with care. But this gets tiresome, 
and you conclude to go to yonder point and sit down 
a while. A harmless idea enough; but be just as care- 
ful in going to it as you have been at any time yet. 



THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 91 

No, no. Keep out of those briers. Attempt no 
short-cuts. Walk around to that ridge on the right 
and take that, for it is high ground and is not brushy. 

You listen, however, to your weary legs and take the 
short-cut. You finally reach the point, and are about 
to sit down when your attention is suddenly arrested 
by three small objects careering away nearly a quarter 
of a mile off. They look but little larger than rab- 
bits; and their woolly tails bob up and down in much 
the same manner, as, on a gentle rolling canter, they 
dissolve in the brush and briers. 

Only a doe and two fawns. They were lying just 
over the point and heard you enjoying the luxury of 
that short-cut. By going that way you made an un- 
necessary cracking of brush which you could have 
avoided by taking this old logging-road that leads to 
that other ridge. That ridge connects with the one 
on which the deer were, and is not brushy enough to 
prevent quiet walking. Thus you would have made 
no noise and would have been all the time in a posi- 
tion to see anything that might run, instead of being 
in the brush and briers where you could see nothing. 
You may sit down now, but spend the time in ponder- 
ing this moral: Beware of short-cuts in still-hunting. 

But deer do not always lie upon the ridges or their 
points, either in a " slash " or anywhere else. There 
is some old hunter's talk about "bucks lyin' up on 
the pints a-hardenin' their horns." But my experience 
has been that even an old buck at the time his horns 
are hardening — late in the summer or very early in 
the fall — is just about as fond of a nice little brushy 
basin as of the points; especially when the sun is hot 
and there is little cove'- on the points. And at this 
time — when the acorns are falling and the deer's 



93 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

horns are fully hardened — I never could observe that 
either bucks, does, or fawns had any preference for 
points, though of course they will often lie on them. 
Now there, some three hundred yards to the right, is 
a nice little basin well filled with old logs and grown 
up with brush, which will probably repay inspection. 

You go over to it, and before you get a fair sight of 
the bottom of it you are startled by a hollow-toned 
phew long-drawn and penetrating. Instantly there is 
a crash of brush, the thump of heavy hoofs, a gleam 
of dark gray among the yielding bushes, a sudden 
glistening of the sun on sharp-pointed tines, and in a 
twinkling bursts from the brush into the open ground 
the stately form of the buck that made those big 
tracks you saw leading into the " slash." Away he goes, 
with sleek coat bright and glossy in the morning 
sun, his shining horns carried well up and his long 
snowy tail waving up and down. Just as you begin 
to remember what you came for he wheels around a 
jutting point and is gone. 

And now, why did you forget the lesson you so 
lately had about short-cuts ? It was too much trouble 
to go a little way around, so you came directly down 
the wind, perhaps without thinking about it at all. 
It was also too much trouble to get on the ridge in- 
stead of entering the basin so low down as you did. 
Now if you had made a circuit of three hundred 
yards, and got upon this ridge to the leeward, you 
might have still had to take a running shot, but you 
would have been almost certain to get as close 
again before starting the buck, and would have seen 
him three times as long after you did start him. 
Unless you are more careful you will not only get 




Here is a good chance for a standing shot lost by goinj 
through that brush instead of around it. 



THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 93 

nothing but running shots, but will get only very long 
and bad ones even of those. 

Half an hour more brings you in sight of a piece of 
low ground along a creek. And here a slight move- 
ment in some brush some two hundred yards away 
arrests your eye. 

Drop at once out of its sight and see what it is. 
In a moment two delicate gray ears appear above the 
brush, followed by the head and slim, graceful neck 
of a fawn. 

Pshaw! Only a fawn! Surely no sportsman ever 
butchers a little baby-deer. 

No; not with the pen. It is always that everlast- 
ing "old buck," the biggest, oldest, fattest, and 
heaviest ever seen. He never weighs under two hun- 
dred and fifty pounds, dressed, and never flourishes 
less than seven or eight tines on his horns. Such a 
number of these fall annually before the unerring 
quill-shots of our country that I have at times felt in- 
clined, in the interests of natural history, to offer a 
reward for any really reliable information about the 
killing of a small doe or a fawn. 

The idea that a fawn is necessarily easy to kill is 
the offspring of an ignorant head. T\\& spotted idiSNn 
generally is, and few sportsmen ever kill one if they 
can see exactly what it is. But when seven or eight 
months old a fawn can often slip through the fingers 
of skill and experience in a style so deeply impressive 
that the older one grows in experience (with the rifle 
instead of the pen) the more his respect for a fawn in- 
creases. Fawns are wilder to-day than full-grown 
deer were twenty years ago; they grow still wilder 
with a little hunting ; and they are always wild enough 



94 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

when alone and not running with the mother to be 
highly worthy of the tyro's bullet. 

It would not do to shoot from here. It is too far en- 
tirely for a sure shot by any one, and a tyro would be 
sure to miss. Therefore the very first thing you must do 
is tiot to be in a hurry. Find out what the fawn is doing; 
examine all the surroundings; see which is the best 
way to approach it. But above all things, positively 
no hurry, for in still-hunting Hurry is the parent of 
Flurry. There is no occasion for haste, for the fawn 
will probably not leave that brush at this time of day. 
It probably has not yet lain down and is about to do 
so. Or it may have been lying down and has risen 
to change its bed to the shade, or you know not what. 
At any rate, it is not alarmed, and will probably stay 
there until afternoon if let alone. It is browsing a 
little, you see. A deer is very apt to nip a few twigs 
at any time of the day he happens to be on foot. 
Every time it nips a bud or two it raises its pretty 
little head above the bushes and takes a good long 
look. You must get within at least a hundred 
yards, and even fifty if you can; for it will be no easy 
matter to tell where its body is, and the head will be 
too fine a mark for a beginner. 

Slipping backward and going down a little ravine, 
you reach the low ground without being seen by the 
fawn, and soon reach the patch of low brush in which 
you saw it. You take unusual care about every step; 
you stoop quite low; you felicitate yourself upon 
your acuteness and caution. Arriving within a 
hundred yards of where it was, you rise up and take 
a look; but seeing nothing, you move on twenty yards 
more and take another look. Nothing in sight yet, 
and twenty yards more fails to reveal anything. 



TITE FIRST SIGHT OF CAIIE, 3 J 

Twenty yards more are passed, and your heart be- 
gins to labor heavily, for the crisis fast approaches. 
A long look. Nothing stirs. The silence becomes 
painfully suspicious. A moment more and you reach 
the edge of the bushes. The bright sun filters through 
them; the bluejay jangles his discordant notes in the 
tree above; the raven wheeling on high grates his dis- 
mal throat; but of venison there is neither sight nor 
sound. Going around the bushes, you find on the 
side toward the creek those marks so refreshing to the 
soul of the weary hunter whose internal economy has 
for half an hour been running under the superheated 
steam of anticipation — fresh tracks of plunging jumps 
twelve or fifteen feet apart. 

I have seen men who would blame the deer for all 
this and start for home, declaring still-hunting a 
fraud and vowing vengeance on any one who ever 
again mentioned the pestiferous business. I have 
known others who blamed themselves for it entirely, sat 
down and meditated the causes of their failure, and 
arose with increased respect and admiration for the 
deer, double determination to conquer him and his 
tricks, and redoubled ardor for the chase. For the 
first class this book is not written. The Adirondack 
guide who holds a deer by the tail in the water for 
his patrons to shoot from the boat with a shot-gun, 
or the owner of the scaffold at some salt-lick, can give 
such all the information they are likely ever to need 
or appreciate. But you, for whom this is written, can 
learn a good lesson here. 

You took care to keep the wind in your face; you 
went quietly enough and slowly enough; you also 
looked keenly enough. So far very well. 

But you forgot two very important things. 



96 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

I St. That the deer was standing in brush of almost 
the height of its head. 

2d. That a deer in brush can see out of it far better 
than you can see into it. 

In such a position a deer has every advantage of 
you. Your only chance to see him is to get upon 
high ground where you can see down into the brush; 
or wait until he moves; or else approach the brush in 
such a way that you can get a good running shot in 
case he starts. Now there is a knoll on the side to- 
ward the creek, and it is only sixty yards from where 
the deer was. If you had made a circuit and got 
upon it, you would have seen the fawn's neck and 
head when he raised them. You would also have 
seen him if he moved. You might have waited there 
an hour or more with safety, for at this time of day a 
deer not disturbed will not move far. He might 
have come out of the brush and browsed around the 
edges a while, or even have come toward you. At all 
events, you would have known just what he was 
doing; and if he had lain down, by approaching from 
this side you might have had a fair running shot; for 
the ground on the other side, you see, is rising and 
open, whereas this is falling and so brushy that you 
did not even see him when he ran. 

On your way homeward in the afternoon you sud- 
denly discover two slim gray sticks just under the 
trunk of a large fallen tree. A few days ago you 
would hardly have noticed them, but now you at once 
see a curious color, shape, and slant about them not 
shared by common sticks. 

But stop. Do not try to get any closer; that will 
never do. You are almost too close now. Higher 
up and farther around, so as to see the other side of 



THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 97 

the log, is where you want to get. If you go directly 
toward those logs the owner of the " sticks" will be sure 
to hear you, or see your legs under the log, before you 
can possibly see his body. Back out as silently as 
death, and circling around behind that ridge, go to its 
top from the back side. That commands a view of the 
other side of the tree-trunk. If you should start that 
deer now, you would not get even a running shot; at 
this time of day he may stand there so long that it will 
not be advisable to wait for him to move; if he does 
move, the chances are against his moving into your 
eye-range, as there are many other big logs close by. 

A detour of some two hundred yards brings you to 
the top of the ridge. You look down at the fallen 
tree and see nothing. You look several seconds, and 
yet see nothing. Concluding that you were mistaken 
or that he is gone, you come over the crest of the 
ridge. And in a twinkling 

" Venison vanisheth down the vale 
With bounding hoof and flaunting tail." 

You were too impatient. He had moved only a 
few steps while you were going around, and stood in 
a thin bush a few steps to the right. You should 
have thoroughly scanned every spot within fifty yards 
of the log, and looked for several minutes, instead of 
several seconds, before showing even your head over 
the ridge. So important is patience in general that I 
shall have to reserve it for a special chapter. 

You wind your way homeward over the oak ridges, 
and through the darkening timber see a white hand- 
kerchief or two beckoning you on, and hear once or 
twice the sound of bounding hoofs. But you reach 
home without seeing anything upon which you can 



98 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

catch sight with your rifle. You have seen plenty of 
deer to-day, but all going, going, going, glimmering 
through the dream of things that ought to be. Yet 
somehow you feel a supreme contempt for the ex- 
ploit of your friend who last year sat by a salt-lick 
and bagged two in one night with a shot-gun. You 
feel rich in a far higher and nobler experience, and 
feel that to him who has within the true spirit of the 
chase there is far more pleasure in seeing over a ridge 
or among the darkening trunks a flaunting flag wave 
a mocking farewell to hope, than in contemplating 
a gross pile of meat bagged with less skill than is 
required to wring a chicken's neck on a moonlight 
night. 

And you have learned at last the first steps in what 
is the most important part of hunting very wild deer, 
and about the last thing about which the tyro is likely 
to imagine any difficulty; viz., to get sight of a deer at 
all. 



THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 99 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 

We will suppose that several days of blighted hopes 
have passed over your head; that some days you have 
seen nothing but tracks and occasional long jumps, 
and on others only a tail or two glimmering out of 
sight in the dark depths of timber or over a ridge. 
We will suppose this because it is most likely to be 
true, and nothing should be concealed from you. On 
the contrary, it is far better to know fully the ob- 
stacles before you, so that you will know the want of 
progress is your own fault, and one which you share 
with all beginners. 

We will suppose — what is quite certain to be true if 
you have any spirit of the chase in you — that these 
days of disappointment have been days full of profit 
and rich in experience ; that your eye has become 
keener, more widely ranging and comprehensive in 
its glance, more familiar with all the features of the 
forest, detecting instantly shapes and spots before 
unnoticed, and penetrating thicket and brush which 
at first appeared almost impenetrable; that your step 
has become lighter and more elastic, your foot at once 
feeling a stick beneath it while your eyes are fixed far 
away; your coat and legs avoiding brush as if instinc- 
tively; your ears more keenly alive to every noise, and 
your whole being worked up into a combination of 
watchfulness and caution. 



100 THE STILL-HUNTER, 

We will suppose, too, that you have duly studied 
the lessons you have had, and are getting quite an 
idea of the kinds of ground on which a deer may be 
expected to be found at any particular time of day, 
as well as of those kinds upon which he will probably 
not be found. With this improvement we will try 
the woods again. 

Already the east is flooded with enough silvery 
sheen to allow you to see a deer in the woods, and 
again you are gliding along the acorn ridges. The 
morning is cool and fresh; there was a fine rain yes- 
terday, and all the leaves and twigs under foot are 
soft and quiet to the touch; the breeze is strong and 
fresh, and by walking against it this morning you 
shall have good prospects of game, you think. Very 
correct. But relax not an atom of either vigilance or 
caution on account of these advantages. Mark this 
well. In still-hunting you have ?iever an advantage to spare. 
It will do you no harm to retain every one, and you 
may lose by throwing away a very slight one that you 
think quite needless. 

And what sort of a beast is that on yonder ridge 
a hundred and fifty yards away, just dimly visible 
through the cloud of twigs and branches of interven- 
ing trees ? It can hardly be a deer. It looks small 
and dark and lacks all that graceful outline of the 
deer engraved on the lock-plate of your gun. Its 
head, too, is low down and projecting like that of a 
long-necked goat, while its nether extremity looks 
awkwardly angular like that of a cow. It is not a 
very enchanting piece of symmetry, and seems lacking 
in that feature so essential to the regulation deer — a 
pair of ten-pointed horns. But then it is an animal 
of some kind and must be inspected. And to tell you 



THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 101 

the truth, you had better lose no time in inspecting it. 
For it is walking, and the deer, if this should be one, 
is a fast walker. 

At a glance you see the folly of shooting at a walk- 
ing mark of such a small size at such a distance. 
Moreover, there are many twigs and small branches 
in the way that can easily deflect a ball. You see, 
too, the impossibility of crossing in time the flat be- 
tween you and the ridge the deer is on; and very 
properly doubt the policy of so doing even if you 
could cross it. But you also notice that it is walking 
with the wind and along the top of the ridge it is on. 
You see, too, that some two hundred yards in the 
same direction the deer is taking, the ridge you are 
on connects with the one the deer is on. 

Quickly and quietly you back off of the ridge you 
are on, run down along it to where it joins the other, 
and then going carefully to the top you raise your 
head with great caution and look down along the 
other ridge. But you see nothing. 

And now beware. You are coming now to the 
trying point. You have done very well so far, but 
are now at the point where a little haste often dashes 
to the ground the cup of success just as it has reached 
the lip. You want to go ahead. You feel a burning 
anxiety to see that animal. Your foot is already 
raised to go ahead. 

But stop and consider a moment. Suppose that 
just at the moment you move ahead the deer should 
happen to be standing still. Have you forgotten how 
hard it will then be for you to see him, and how easy 
it will be for him to see you ? Recollect that it is 
only daylight; that the deer is undoubtedly feeding, 
and is in no haste to move away; and that you have 



102 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the wind from him to you. If it leaves that ridge at 
all, it is much more likely to come to this point of 
junction with another one than it is to cross that flat. 
That is probably just what it is now doing. At all 
events, the chances of its doing that or else staying 
on the ridge are greater than the chances of your 
moving far along that ridge without being seen by it. 
Nevertheless you may move out a little farther, be- 
cause you got here so quickly that the deer is prob- 
ably little over half way here. But stoop very low; 
go very carefully; go no farther than is necessary to 
give you a good view of either hollow in case the deer 
should cross one of them; and then stop behind a 
tree, stand upright behind it, and move your head in 
looking as little and as slowly as possible. 

And there you stand while a second seems a minute 
and a minute seems the grandfather of an hour. How 
restless your feet become to move on again! But 
yield not an inch to impatience now. Recollect that 
there is not one chance in fifty that that deer will re- 
retrace his steps; there is not one in five that he will 
cross either flat, or one in ten that he can do it with- 
out your seeing him and getting a tolerably fair shot 
at him. Remember, too, that there is not one chance 
in ten of your seeing him first if you move on. That 
deer is probably within seventy-five yards of you and 
feeding slowly along the ridge. 

If patience ever brings reward, it is to the still- 
hunter. And here at last comes yours — a piece of 
dull dark gray slowly moving in some brush forty or 
fifty yards ahead. 

No, no ; do not shoot yet. It will surely come 
closer and make a more distinct mark. But watch it 
closely, for you have no idea of how easily a deer can 



THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 103 

slip out of sight even in pretty open brush. So keep 
your eye on that dark gray while I tell you a little 
story about a friend of mine, a dilettante sportsman: 

'Twas on a clear and frosty morn, 
When loudly on the air were borne 
Those weird and deeply thrilling sounds. 
The clanging tones of clamorous hounds. 
" How sweet," said he, "that music floats 
And rolls in wild tumultuous notes; 
Now ringing up the mountain's side, 
Now waxing, waning, like the tide. 
Or swinging loud across the dell 
Like Pandemonium's carnival." 

Hot bounds his blood in swift career, 
When bursts the uproar still more near, 
And hope and fear alternate play 
With bounding joy and dark dismay. 

As louder, nearer, bays the pack. 
Cold shivers dance along his back; 
From tip to toe his nerves all tingle. 
His knee-pans seem almost to jingle, 
All o'er his skin hot flashes amble, 
And on his head each hair doth scramble; 
He feels his heart erratic beat, 
He nearly melts with inward heat. 
And grasps with quivering hand the gun 
As nears the pack in rapid run. 

And now there comes an ominous sound 
Of hoofs that fiercely spurn the ground. 
Close followed by a sudden crash, 
As through the brush with headlong dash 
There bursts in view a lordly buck. 
"Ye gods! " he chattered, " oh, what luck ! 
But oh ! ain't he a splendid sight! 
Those spirit-eyes! How wildly bright! 



104 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

What graceful form! What glossy vest! 
What massive neck! What brawny chest! 
What proud defiance seem to shed 
Those antlers o'er his shapely head! 
How in the sun they flash and shine 
From rugged base to polished tine!" 

" Phew ! " said the buck, with lofty bound 

That scattered dirt and leaves around; 

Then skipped across the field of view, 

Waved with his flag a fond adieu 

To his admirer's ravished eye. 

Just as the hounds came foaming by. 

" But Where's my gun? He's gone! Oh, thunder! 
How could I ever make such blunder! 
It looked so fine to see him run 
I quite forgot I had a gun." 

Here now is your animal in plain sight. It will 
pass you on a slanting course about twenty-five yards 
to your right. If you were an experienced shot you 
could hit it while moving; but being a novice you had 
better make it halt so as to be sure of it. Say Mah! 
plainly and distinctly, but not too loudly. 

Presto ! what a change ! Mah! is about the sound 
of a deer's bleat. At the sound the awkward-looking 
thing is resolved, as by the stroke of an enchanter's 
wand, into all the grace and symmetry of the artist's 
deer. It stands in the light of the rising sun with 
sleek and shiny coat, rotund with fatness ; its dark 
eyes are turned inquiringly toward you; its delicate 
ears are turned forward to catch the slightest sound. 
It is a fine, full-grown doe, only thirty yards away, 
and broadside at that. The picture-deer exactly ! 

The little story has had its intended effect, and has 
kept off that form of what is called " buck ague." 




Too Slow. 



THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 105 

With hand quite firm you raise the rifle; your eye 
glances along the sights and sees they are in line with 
the beamy pelt ; with a thrill of delight you press 
the trigger. 

At the crack of the rifle the doe rolls away in bil- 
lowy flight, her white flag riding like a white-cap 
each wave of her course, until in a moment it sinks 
into the sea of timber and brush around you. 

Too close. That's all. 

How can a thing be too close ? Well, a deer nearly 
always is for the first few shots. It looks too big, 
makes you feel too sure of it, and prevents your sight- 
ing as carefully as you should do. Even an experi- 
enced shot occasionally misses a deer in this way. A 
trifling amount of overconfidence is enough to do it. 
You did not take a fine enough sight. You flattered 
yourself that you were cool and saw the sights of the 
rifle plainly. So you did, after a certain fashion. But 
you still aimed very much as you would have aimed 
with a shot-gun at a rabbit, whereas you should have 
aimed precisely as you would aim to hit a two-inch 
bull's-eye on a target at that distance. So take this 
as your first lesson in shooting; namely, a deer at a 
distance where one can almost hit it with a stone 7nay be 
missed with a rifle in perfectly cool hands by a very trifling 
lack of care in aiming. 

But after shooting at a deer you should always 
examine the ground where it stood for blood or hair, 
and should follow its tracks for some distance, look- 
ing for blood or indications of staggering or unsteadi- 
ness in its gait. It will generally suffice to follow them 
to the first place where the deer stops to look back. 
If no blood shows itself here, you may feel quite cer- 
tain it is not hurt enough for you to secure unless 



106 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

upon snow; though one mortally wounded may run 
half a mile or more without showing it even upon 
snow. On one occasion I found a stale and bloody 
trail of a deer in snow one afternoon with no hunter's 
track upon it. I soon tracked it up, and found the deer 
dead with a bullet-hole through the neck. As the hole 
corresponded in size with the ball I was then using, 
and as the deer looked like one I had shot at that 
morning, I concluded to follow the trail back to where 
it was shot. Nearly half a mile back from there I 
came to the place where I had given up the trail in 
the morning. I had followed it about a quarter of a 
mile, and it was nearly one third of a mile to where 
blood first began to spot the snow. Many deer are 
lost by neglecting a thorough examination of this 
kind, especially when they are shot with rifles of such 
small caliber as those in which the American heart 
most delights. 

You spend another hour upon the ridges without 
seeing anything but the tracks of some more plung- 
ing jumps of deer that you have started unseen. As 
this is a difficulty that you can never entirely over- 
come, you need not feel very bad about it. No matter 
how carefully one may hunt, or how keen one's sight 
may be, a deer will often escape in this way, even 
when one has the aid of snow to tell nearly where 
the deer is. The advantage which a deer is often sure 
to have in being at rest while you are moving, in being 
on ground where it is impossible for you to walk 
quietly, in being at one of those turning-points in 
your course where you must walk down wind for a 
while, or in being in one of those eddies or cross- 
currents that carry your scent where you least expect 



THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 107 

it, will often turn the fortune of the day against you 
even if you are the very best of hunters. 

It is now about time to visit the old "slash" again. 
Here is a long low creek-bottom covered with black- 
haw, thorn-apple, wild-plum, and other bushes and 
scrubby trees amid the heavier timber. And this is 
the very kind of ground on which a deer will often 
lounge about an hour or so on his way to the "slash," 
windfall, or brushy ridges where he will lie down. 
And often, especially in stormy weather, he will spend 
the whole day in such a bottom, standing around most 
of the time in the thickets or openings between or in 
them and often lying down in them. And when they 
are not hunted much you will be quite apt to find 
some deer in such a place at any time of day. 

And now stop. There is a dark, dim spot in yonder 
brush a hundred and fifty yards away. It may be a 
bit of stump or log, but it is worth investigation. 
But you cannot go ahead and do so. If it is a deer, it 
is one at rest; and on ground so level as this you have 
no chance of getting close enough. But here is a 
ridge on your left that runs within fifty yards of the 
suspicious spot. Stoop low and retrace your steps 
until you can get around behind that ridge without 
being seen, go about a hundred and fifty yards on the 
back side of it, then cautiously ascend and stop the 
instant you catch sight of the flat where the spot is. 
And remember not to show too much of your head. 

All this you do quite well. But when you come to 
look over the ridge there is nothing to be seen but 
trees and brush, through which you can see quite dis- 
tinctly. You have learned, however, that here is a 
critical point, and that there is great danger in decid- 
ing too quickly that there is nothing in sight. You stand 



108 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

some five minutes carefully scanning every spot in 
sight and studying every bush. And your patience is 
at last rewarded. For suddenly you see a slight move- 
ment and a delicate head nips off some twigs from a 
bush you were looking directly at a moment ago, and 
which you then thought you could see entirely through. 
And now you see the body and the points of a pair of 
small horns glisten on its head. Astonishing, is it 
not, to see how quickly the outlines of a deer begin to 
develop the instant you know it is one ? A fine 
young spike-buck that is. And now do not forget 
your last shot and what I told you about holding a 
fine sight. 

Bang ! goes the rifle. The buck takes two jumps and 
strikes an attitude a sculptor would envy. He is evi- 
dently lost in wonder, and looks about as if in doubt 
which way to run, or whether in fact there be any oc- 
casion to run at all. A rustic youth, perhaps, that has 
never before heard a rifle; or he may be wild enough, 
yet be bewildered by the conformation of the ridges^ 
making it impossible for him to tell whence the sound 
comes. 

Bang! goes another shot. The buck runs a few 
jumps and again stops and looks about half dazed. 

Bang! goes another shot from the rifle that now 
trembles like a leaf in your hand. The buck takes a 
few more jumps, stops for a second, then disappears 
in a high rolling wavy line of dark gray and white. 

You think you took a good aim that time and were 
quite cool ? 

Well, it was a decided improvement upon the last 
shot. But you were the victim of an error into which 
the expert often falls — overshooting on a down-hill 
shot. The tendency to do this is one of the curious 



THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. 109 

things about rifle-shooting on game. Even on a long 
shot, where one would suppose the natural drop of 
the ball from the line of sight would overbalance any 
error of elevation, there is continual danger of it. 
This is no optical illusion, nor is there any deflection 
of the lines of light to cause it. It is simply from 
catching too much of the front sight without knowing 
it, and from holding too high upon your game be- 
cause you are looking down upon it. The next time 
make the front sight the most prominent object of 
your attention, and get it very low on the animal — 
not more than one third of the way from the lower 
edge of the body. 

At last you reach the old chopping, and after a long 
tour among its various beauties are about to return 
home disappointed again, when, in coming along an old 
logging-road that leads through a little basin in one cor- 
ner of the "slash," you are suddenly riveted to the 
ground by an unexpected apparition. Within twenty- 
five yards, standing full broadside toward you and look- 
ing directly at you, is the great-grandfather of all the 
big bucks you ever heard or read of. He stands like 
a statue of glossy fur, with neck as thick as a water- 
pail, wide-branching, full-tined horns all glistening 
in the sun, bright staring eyes, and great flaring gray 
ears turned directly at you. Where he came from or 
how he got there you know not. You heard nothing 
move and saw nothing move. He probably rose 
directly out of his bed, and you may find it beneath 
him. This is one of those occasional visitations of 
pure good fortune which may come to the most ver- 
dant of bunglers and delude him with the idea that 
he is a mighty hunter. Even the oldest and wildest 
of deer is liable once in a while to get out of bed 



110 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

slightly dazed. Perhaps he has fallen into a doze or 
into one of those reveries that all animals appear to 
indulge in at times, and the sudden alarm has turned 
his head a bit. 

However he is here, and something must be done; 
and rather promptly, too. A cold shiver descends 
like a shower-bath upon you, your hand trembles like 
an aspen leaf, and the sights tremble all over the body 
of your target as you raise the rifle. Your previous 
misses; the necessity of making this last chance for 
to-day count; and, what is worst of all, the thought of 
the large amount of toothsome tidbits beneath that 
shiny fur, — all these make you tremble still more. 

Put down the rifle and take a second's breathing- 
space. Precious as time is, there is a stronger prospect 
of his standing than of your hitting him in your pres- 
ent state of tremor. 

You cannot wait? Go on, then. But shoot at the 
lower edge of his body, just where the fore-leg appears 
to join it. 

Bang ! goes the rifle. The buck gives a sudden start 
and plunges away through the thickest brush and 
briers with the speed of a race-horse. 

You had another form of "buck ague," a little dif- 
ferent from the kind I told you of in the story, but 
often quite as effective. It is quite common to sup- 
pose that the "buck ague" does not trouble one after 
one or two shots. But it is liable to occur for a long 
time, and you will have to shoot many a deer and 
miss many another one before you can shoot steadily. 
Even then you cannot always do it, for a certain 
amount of tremor is liable to attack any one on a 
long or very fine shot, especially when very anxious 
to get something for a vacant larder. I doubt, too, 



THE FIRST SHOT AT A DEER. Ill 

if any one of fine sensibilities, and who hunts only 
for the love of hunting, can ever acquire the butcher's 
coolness when in the imposing presence of noble game. 
The only remedy for this when excessive is to stop 
and rest a while whenever you can. But if the game 
is on foot and alarmed, you have little time for this. 
You must then shoot with a trembling gun, and your 
only safety will be to shoot at least six inches lower 
than you otherwise would. Because you are in such 
case certain to see twice as much of the front sight as 
you should see. This will not do, however, on a long 
shot. There you must wait for your hand to get 
steady, unless you can get a rest without moving too 
much in sight of the deer. 

But do not give up to despair just yet. Remember 
the advice about following a deer you have shot at. 
Did you not notice a convulsive jerk about that buck's 
manner of getting under way ? Did you not notice 
that instead of the white waving tail you have before 
seen adorning a glossy rump, it was carried down and 
close to the body ? Did you not notice a plunging 
heaviness in his gait very different from the airy elas- 
ticity you have seen in the gait of others ? Did you 
not see that he tore through brush when there was 
enough open ground for him to chose, and that he 
made as much smashing of brush as a wild bull could 
have made ? It will certainly repay you to follow 
those tracks. 

The ground where he stood reveals neither blood 
nor hair. But never mind; your rifle is small. His 
shoulders are thick ; the ball may not have passed 
through. Let us take the track, which will be easily 
followed as long as he keeps on running. 

Here is the first jump beyond the bush where he 



112 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

disappeared. But there is no blood. The next one is 
eight or nine feet beyond — a good sign, for if unhurt 
he would have cleared twelve or fifteen feet on such a 
down-hill slope as this. The next one, and the next, 
and the next, for eight or ten jumps, are all right, but 
only eight or nine feet apart. But the next one is 
closer, and the hoof-prints in it are wider apart from 
each other than they were a while ago. Aha ! Look 
at the next. He is staggering as surely as you live. 
Hold your rifle ready and look well ahead, for it is 
just possible that he is still on foot; or if he has fallen, 
he may possibly rise. But he is probably dead. 

And now the marks of jumps grow closer together, 
while the four tracks composing them are wider still. 
And now they cease, and the trail becomes a trot, 
long-plunging and staggering. A few more yards 
and your buck lies dead against a log he could not 
get over. He is shot in the shoulder, but nearly a 
foot above the lower line of his body. Do you see 
now how you would have fared if you had fired at 
your own sweet will instead of aiming where I told 
you ? 



RUNNING-TIME. 113 



CHAPTER X. 

RUNNING-TIME. 

Still-hunting is not a system of any special tricks 
any more than sparring is. The art of self-defense 
consists in the rapid, almost automatic, application of 
a very few principles deeply founded in common- 
sense. Any one knows that a quick blow is better 
than a slow one; that a straight blow is better than a 
curving one; that a slight parry that merely turns 
aside an opponent's blow is quite as effective as one 
that knocks it aside, and much more easy to make 
quickly; that dodging a blow is often better than stop- 
ping it; that the left hand can strike as hard and 
quickly as the right, etc. etc. Yet, strangely enough, 
a man left to himself falls naturally into the clumsy, 
awkward methods of the rural boxer. And to get 
him into the most natural, easy, and common-sense 
way of striking, parrying, etc., requires an immense 
amount of instruction and drilling. It is the same 
with still-hunting. The trick part of it amounts to al- 
most nothing. The principles are all natural, founded 
in common-sense, and simple. You must first learn 
what they are, and especially what they are not. Then 
they must be followed until you follow them uncon- 
sciously and become a bundle of good habits. 

We have now gone through all the leading princi- 
ples involved in still-hunting in the woods before snow 
falls. And many of these I have repeated even at the 



114 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

risk of being tedious; for I well know their extreme 
importance, and how easily one forgets them just at 
the critical moment. The principles involved in track- 
ing and in hunting open ground will be given farther 
on, and the same effort made to impress them upon 
the memory. Any more illustration of plain hunting 
in the woods before snow would now be too tiresome 
on account of the repetition of the leading principles 
we have already seen. Moreover, to follow out in de- 
tail all the varying scenes of the still-hunt and all the 
special modifications of general principles rendered 
necessary from time to time by change of ground, 
wind, light, actions of the deer, etc., would swell this 
book to a size that would seal its fate at once. We 
will therefore pass on to what is known among hun- 
ters as the " running-time." 

The expressions "rutting- time" and "running- 
time" are generally used to mean the same thing. 
But the " running-time" is really only the climax of 
the " rutting-time." 

The "rutting-time" begins at different times in differ- 
ent sections, depending upon climate and elevation. 
And even in any one place it is difficult to say just 
when it begins and when it ends. But at periods 
varying from September to December, inclusive of 
those months, the does will be in season. And in the 
North and West this is about the time of the first 
heavy frosts. 

For several weeks before the does are ready the 
bucks begin to get uneasy. Their necks swell to an 
unusual thickness, as you noticed in the one you shot 
yesterday. They keep on foot later in the morning 
and start out earlier in the afternoon. They roam 
more widely than before; so much so that it becomes 



R UNNING- TIME. 115 

a tedious task to track them unless the track be 
very fresh and it be quite late in the morning. You 
have doubtless on your last few hunts noticed places 
where the ground had been pawed and scraped bare 
in spots two feet or more in diameter, and that on 
this bare spot were unmistakable tracks of a big hoof. 
You saw, too, some bushes that had been bent, 
twisted, and broken by horns, very different in appear- 
ance from the marks you saw some time since of 
frayed bark on sapling brush, etc., and which was 
done by the buck rubbing the velvet from his horns 
late in summer. The brush now looks as if worsted 
in a fight with a pair of horns. And such is the case. 

These signs show the beginning of "running-time." 
But as yet there is no difference of which you can 
take advantage. 

Though a doe is still occasionally seen in company 
with a buck, the majority of them now keep away 
from him. And he spends a large portion of his time 
traveling about in search of them. This he generally 
does on a walk and with head well down. At first he 
does this only early in the morning and late in the 
evening. But as the season advances his ardor in- 
creases, and for ten or twelve days he follows them, 
often on a half-walk and half-trot, varied at times 
with a clumsy gallop very different from the graceful 
canter with which he vacates the vicinity of danger. 
And at the height of this time he often spends the 
greater part of the day in this amusement. 

During the height of the season it is no uncommon 
thing for a doe to be pursued by three or four and 
even more bucks, one after the other. They are not 
together, but a short distance apart. Generally the 
biggest one is ahead, and the procession tapers off to 



116 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

a two-year-old or so, keeping a respectful distance in 
the rear. But sometimes they come together, and 
then there is a clattering of horns, flashing of greenish- 
blue eyes, and an elevation of hair that is decidedly 
entertaining to one who can keep his finger from 
the trigger long enough to "see it out." 

If at the time when a doe is pursued by one or 
more of these ardents a hunter happens to be upon 
her course, either before or after she passes, he may 
be overwhelmed with a perfect avalanche of success 
before he knows it. A deer running on a gallop is 
always blind enough to anything ahead of him that 
does not move. But when thus inflamed with passion 
the buck is so much so that he often does not care 
even for a thing that does move a little, and will 
sometimes charge past or nearly upon the hunter in 
spite of all bleating, whistling, or any other noise 
with which the hunter may try to stop him. The 
havoc wrought in a novice's nervous organization by 
such an onset may well be imagined; and fortunate is 
he if he has any nerve left by the time the others ar- 
rive, which is generally in a very few minutes, or even 
seconds. 

I have myself never seen more than three bucks 
after one doe, and that but once; but I know several 
well-authenticated cases of four and five, and one case 
of seven being killed behind one doe in less than 
fifteen minutes, so well attested that I feel obliged to 
believe it. 

But all such cases as even four or five are now the 
rare exception, and one might spend the whole run- 
ning-time without ever getting on the course of a 
buck following a doe either in company or alone. 



J? UNNING- TIME. 117 

And if you do not thus get on their course you are no 
better off than if it were not "running-time." 

I have seen some very silly stuff in print about the 
ease with which any blockhead can kill a deer in " run- 
ning-time." This always comes from the advocates 
of driving deer with hounds — men who generally know 
nothing of still-hunting, but think it necessary to de- 
fend hounding by condemning still-hunting. If one 
happens on the right runwa)^ and does not get flur- 
ried when the procession comes, this is true enough. 
But unless he happens upon the course of a doe, he 
can do nothing more than at any other time. 

It is said " all one has to do is to lie along a run- 
way and shoot." 

Now unless deer are extremely plenty the chances 
of getting on a runway likely to be used that day for 
such a parade are all against the hunter. And there 
is absolutely nothing by which the most experienced 
hunter can decide what runway deer will take at such 
a time unless he has already seen them in motion. 

The habits of deer in forming and traveling in run- 
ways or paths are peculiar, and vary with localities 
in a way difficult to reduce to rule. In nearly all coun- 
tries deer will form runwa3'-s when the snow gets deep, 
but by that time they are generally so poor that only 
the brute will molest them. On bare ground deer will 
generally form runways in very hilly, rocky, brushy, 
or swampy ground. But it is equally certain that on 
such ground they often do not form them. 

They also, on some kinds of ground, change their 
runways so often that when you find one you cannot 
feel certain that it will be traveled again at all. And 
they often have so many that you cannot decide 
whether the next travel upon any one will be to-day 



118 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

or next week. Again, a road made by a small band of 
deer passing only once over a piece of soft ground 
may have all the appearance of a runway and yet 
never again be used. The best thing to do with run- 
ways, except for hounding, is to let them entirely 
alone. One can do an immense amount of aggravat- 
ing waiting at even the best of them. And if deer are 
plenty enough to make it worth while to watch a run- 
way at all, you can generally do better by keeping in 
motion, as you have done before " running-time." 
Though the " rutting-time" is long, the part of it that 
will be of much aid to the novice is very short; while 
the ease, advantages, and pleasures of lying by a run- 
way and taking in a string of bucks are most absurdly 
exaggerated. Moreover, the does, yearlings, and fawns 
are just as wild now as at any other time. And even 
the old buck, though he may be a crazy fool while 
actually running, yet that same buck, when he cools 
down and goes off to feed or lie down, is just about 
as wary and hard to approach as at any other time of 
year. When the leaves are dry and stiff, or from any 
cause the woods cannot be traversed quietly, then 
runway watching may do. 

Otherwise the best way to utilize "running-time" 
for both sport and success is to hunt just about as 
we did before, but with a slight change of ground. 
In this way we shall lose no other advantages and re- 
tain all the advantages of the "running-time." And 
it certainly has advantages which can neither be ig- 
nored nor despised. 

As in your other still-hunting, you must not let the 
sun tread upon your heels, but should be in the woods 
early. And you might as well go, as before, directly 
to the oak ridges, because the does and yearlings and 



R UNNING- TIME. 119 

fawns will not neglect eating, as the buck now sometimes 
does, and they will be found in about the same places 
as before. Moreover, as a matter of fact, aside from 
any foolish notions about the superior glory of bag- 
ging a big buck, or having a "head" to mount as a 
"trophy" — genuine "vanity of vanities" — the does, 
fawns, and yearlings are apt to be far the best game. 
A big buck is now far more apt to be an old fool than 
a fawn ever is to be a young fool, and the adage " No 
fool to an old fool " never had a truer application 
than when applied to an ardent buck when running. 
So that when you kill a fawn of six or eight months 
old at this time it is a much greater achievement than 
to kill a buck when after a doe. The bucks, too, at 
this time are apt to be strong and musky in flavor. 
Some of them become intolerably so and cannot be 
eaten. It is a common idea that the removal of the 
scrotum and penis prevents this. But this is mainly 
an idea. It may do some good; but the fact is that 
some bucks, even with thickly swelled necks, are not 
at all strong flavored, while others are as rank as a 
muskrat all over, in spite of the instant removal of 
the genital organs, and this flavor cannot be elimin- 
ated in any way so as to make it palatable to any one 
but a city snob who eats venison for style. 

Still, some of the bucks are good, and the younger 
they are the more apt are they to be good. And to 
find them you should keep a keen watch around the 
heads of big ravines and along their dividing ridges; 
also along creek-bottoms, flats, and hollows where 
there is some brush, but not too thick. But other 
ground must not be neglected, and a good watch 
should be kept everywhere; for a buck is apt to get 



120 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

on the trail of ,a doe at any point and overtake her 
anywhere. 

If the ground be very broken, the ridges high, and 
the ravines deep, you will be apt to find runways 
along the bottoms, up the sides, and around the heads 
of ravines, especially crossing the dividing ridge be- 
tween the head of one ravine and that of another 
running towards it from an opposite direction. You 
will also find them along or crossing the "divide" be- 
tween ravines running in the same direction. If you 
find runways numerous or well traveled, you might 
as well spend the day in lounging around such places, 
taking a seat from time to time upon some ridge that 
commands a good view of both ridges and hollows 
and their heads. And even where deer do not form 
runways, if you find them plenty it will be worth 
while to do the same thing at this time of year. But 
do not allow any affinity that may spring up between 
you and a comfortable log to become too lasting, 
unless there are well-traveled runways and deer are 
quite plenty. 

When moving on a runway look frequently behind 
you as well as ahead, for a deer is as liable to come 
from one direction as from another. When you see 
fresh tracks of the size of a doe's hoof it is well to 
wait there some time, for a buck may be from five to 
thirty minutes behind a doe as well as close to her. 
Should you see the doe and shoot her, or should she 
escape, remain there fifteen or twenty minutes, keep- 
ing a keen watch in the direction from which she 
came. It by no means follows, though, that a doe has 
a buck behind her, or that there is more than one buck 
behind her. Where deer are plenty the chances are 
the other way. Should you see a buck coming to- 



R UNNING- TIME. 121 

wards you, be in no haste. If you are on the course 
of the doe, there is no probability of his sheering to 
either side if you keep still. Let him come directly 
towards you. If walking, you can generally halt him 
with a bleat. But if you can shoot well enough, and 
are cool enough, it is best to halt him with a ball, for 
there is some little risk of his getting away if you try 
otherwise to halt him. When you have shot one 
buck, remove the scrotum and slit him at once in the 
chest like a hog — cutting the throat does not half 
bleed a deer — and then go back a few paces on his 
course and wait for a successor, etc. 

It is better in the long-run to keep slowly moving 
for the most of the time. And your eye must be as 
keen as ever. A deer, even when moving, is often 
very hard to see. They are not only low along the 
ground, but are very fast and silent walkers. Even 
after you see one it can slip out of your sight with 
wonderful ease, and this, too, where it suspects noth- 
ing, but its disappearance is entirely accidental. You 
must remember this in all cases where you once get 
your eye upon a moving deer, and either try to get 
closer to it or try to get ahead of it upon its course, 
so as to wait for it. A very big buck can slip out of 
sight, horns and all, in brush so thin and low that you 
would never dream of his escape. 

As a rule, the following of tracks in " running-time" 
is not remunerative. The bucks roam for miles, and 
the does travel farther than at other times. Still, 
where you find fresh tracks leading to a " slash," tow- 
ard the middle of the day it will be well to go there 
if you have snow to make the tracking easy. And 
yearlings and fawns you may track as at other times. 



12a THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XI. 

HUNTING ON SNOW. 

The climax of pleasure and generally of skill is 
reached in tracking up your game so as to get a good 
shot at it. Many of the best still-hunters will not 
hunt at all until snow comes, and in the Eastern and 
Northwestern States the season may be said to com- 
mence only "when snow flies," as they say in the 
woods. 

Tracking upon snow and upon bare ground are 
generically the same, but specifically so different as to 
require separate treatment. And tracking upon snow 
being the easiest, we will consider it first. 

To follow a deer's track upon snow is so easy a 
matter that almost any one of any tact at all can do it 
with a trifling bit of practice in judging of the fresh- 
ness of the marks and the snow thrown out ahead of 
the footprints. As we go on we will notice the 
prominent features of a fresh trail. 

Two very natural mistakes are, however, apt to be 
made by the novice who hunts upon snow: 

ist. That a fresh trail is to be followed as a matter 
of course. 

2d. That he is to follow directly upon it. 

The advantage of snow for still-hunting lies not 
alone in enabling one to locate a deer and come up 
with him. It lies quite as much in softening the 
ground and deadening the sound of your steps; in 



HUNTING ON SNOW. 123 

making a background upon which you ma}'^ the more 
easily discover your game; in enabling you to speedily 
ascertain the quantity and quality of the deer about 
you, the direction they have taken, what they were 
doing, and how long since they passed, etc. etc. To 
follow up tracks is often folly. An old buck in " run- 
ning-time" will often lead you too long a race. A doe 
may then do the same. If tracks consist of jumps or 
half-jumps, or half-trot or half-walk and half-jump, it 
generally shows that the deer are alarmed, especially 
if there are places where they have stopped and 
turned around or sideways to look back. It will then 
be quite useless to follow them except as hereafter 
directed. If the deer are much hunted by still- 
hunters, they will be so likely to watch their back 
track even when lying down that it will be quite vain 
to keep on the track. Where the ground is very 
brushy or very level it is rarely advisable to follow a 
trail unless the deer are very tame or you can use a 
cow-bell or horse. And where deer are plenty and 
you are well acquainted with the ground, knowing all 
the ridges, passes, feeding-places, and lying-down 
ground, it is often better to let tracks entirely alone 
and hunt as you have done heretofore — to find them on 
foot at feeding-time, or standing in or around thickets 
during the day, or lying down. This is the course 
pursued by many of the best hunters quite as often 
as tracking. They use the tracks only as a general 
guide, and depend mainly upon the other advantages 
of the snow above mentioned. 

But whether you follow tracks or not, there are 
some points ever to be remembered: 

ist. That while snow enables you to see a deer 
much farther as well as more quickly and distinctly 



134 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

than upon bare ground, it also gives the deer pre- 
cisely the same advantage over you, an advantage 
which you cannot in heavy timber avoid by all the 
white clothes and hats you can invent. 

2d. That though snow deadens the sharpness or dis- 
tinctness of sounds, yet dull sounds, like the crushing 
of dead or rotten sticks beneath the foot, will be con- 
veyed along the ground as well as ever, and perhaps 
even better if the snow be wet. 

3d. That it may make an entirely new noise by 
grinding or packing under your foot when deep and 
dry, unless you work your foot into it toe first; or 
when a little stiff or crusty from thaw or rain, it may 
make a noise worse than any it hides. And both 
these new noises being conveyed alojig the ground^ and 
being unmistakable in their character, will frighten a 
wild deer farther and more effectually than any other 
kind of noise. And in no respect must any of the 
caution to be observed in hunting on bare ground be 
relaxed. 

Not only is it a great pleasure to work up a trail, 
but where deer are scarce it is often essential to suc- 
cess. And as hunting on snow without tracking does 
not materially differ from what we have already been 
over, we will pass at once to tracking. 

About all the descriptions of tracking deer that it 
has ever been my lot to see were nothing but exag- 
gerated rabbit-hunts, such as when a boy I used to 
take before breakfast on the first " tracking-snow" of 
the season. They all depict a man sneaking along on 
the trail until he comes up with the deer, which he 
knocks over as a matter of course. The deer is big- 
ger than a rabbit; its distance from the hunter is a 
few yards greater than the distance the rabbit gener- 




.<^^ 






,^^ 



"How did he know I was coming?" 



HUNTING ON SNOW. 125 

ally is; and a rifle is used instead of a shot-gun. In 
all else they are par excellence rabbit-hunts. Where 
deer are very tame, one may sometimes be tracked 
and bagged almost as easily as a rabbit. But even 
then it is the rare exception. And where they are 
wild, the exception is so very rare that it may be 
thrown entirely out of consideration. In no way can 
you get so good an idea of what tracking very wild 
deer is as by seeing what it is not. And in accord- 
ance with our plan we will see first what mistakes you 
will naturally fall into, and how to avoid them. 

A light feathery snow of about two inches in depth 
which fell last evening now covers the ground. And 
again we tread the woods by the time it is light 
enough to distinguish a deer. For the earlier we get 
upon a track the less the distance we shall have to 
follow it, and the more likely we shall be to find our 
game on foot instead of lying down where we may 
have to depend upon a running shot. 

Here is a track already. But it will not be best to 
follow it, as it was made last night soon after the 
snow ceased falling. Compare it with your own 
track and see how the snow thrown out ahead of the 
hole lacks the sparkle of that thrown from your track. 
You see, too, that the edges of the hole made by the 
deer's foot do not glisten like the edges of the one 
you have made. All this is because the crystals of 
snow have lost their keenness of edge by evaporation 
— a process that takes place in the very driest snow 
and coldest air. Stoop low and examine the deer's 
tracks closely, and notice a little fallen snow and a 
few faint particles of fine dust from the trees in them. 
This dust is always falling even in the very stillest 
weather. But you need nothing more reliable than 



136 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the mere appearance of the snow around the edge 
and in front of the track. With a few days' practice 
you can tell a trail five minutes old from one five 
hours old, even in dry snow. But we will leave this 
trail, for we shall surely find fresher ones. 

Here we come to one that is quite fresh. But the 
size of the footprints, as well as their distance apart, 
shows the trail to be that of a large buck. As it is 
the height of running-time we will let him go. 

Ah! Here is what we want — a trail of a doe and 
two fawns. They are going, too, toward the acorn 
ridges — a good place to catch them. 

With watchful eye you steal cautiously along the 
trails. These lead to the acorn ridges, and here they 
begin to separate. The deer evidently have stopped 
traveling, and are now straggling about here and 
there. Your common-sense now tells you that they 
have probably stopped to feed a bit here and may be 
very close, perhaps just over the next ridge. There- 
fore you redouble your caution about noise, and look 
more keenly than ever at every spot that can pos- 
sibly be a bit of a deer's coat. All of which is very 
well. 

In a moment or two you reach the top of the first 
ridge, and a good long look at all the ground in sight 
shows you no deer. But you find where deer have 
pawed up the snow for acorns. The trails, too, cross 
and recross each other here, so that you can follow 
nothing. And they become mixed, too, with other 
deer-tracks until you are quite confused. You con- 
sider yourself fully equal, however, to this emergency, 
and resolve to cut the knot by the very simple device 
of the rabbit-tracker — a circle. 

This plan is correct enough in itself. But why do 



HUNTING ON SNOW. 127 

it now? If the deer are still on these ridges you 
need not follow their tracks at all, but look for them 
just as you would do if the ridges were bare, as in 
your previous hunts. Your chances of seeing them in 
that way are quite good enough. And by the amount 
and variety of tracks you see there are other deer 
about, and some are probably feeding on the ridges 
this very minute. Never mind the tracks now, but 
slip around to the leeward of the breeze that you see 
is just beginning to sift down a little fine snow from 
the tree-tops above. Do not lose the advantage of 
the wind for the sake of following tracks now. You 
can follow those tracks in tvv^o hours as well as you 
can now; and if the deer have gone away to lie down 
or lounge, they will then be little farther away than 
they now are. Keep to the leeward and remain on 
these ridges at least an hour more. 

But your anxiety to follow them is too great, and 
you start on a circle to find their trail again. In five 
minutes the circle is completed. Yet your stock of 
information on the subject of those three deer remains 
unchanged. You find only confusion worse con- 
founded, a complete network of trails. You should 
have made your circle four or five times as large as 
you did make it. 

You see this mistake, and set out upon a much 
larger circle than before. And while doing this, one 
of the first things you discover is a series of long 
jumps down a ridge to the left. Following these 
back as before advised, to find how you lost that 
deer, you find that he was feeding just over a ridge 
only a hundred yards from where you began your 
first circle, and that by the time that circle was half 
completed, you with your eyes fixed upon the ground, 



128 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

— where they had no business to be, — came directly 
into his sight. 

Two hundred yards more of your second circle 
brings you to another object of peculiar, often pain- 
ful, interest to anxious hunters — two more sets of 
long jumps where two yearlings have scattered the 
snow, leaves, and dirt with their plunging hoofs. In 
the excitement of your circle business you quite over- 
looked the little matter of wind, and they probably 
smelt you. Or they may have been stampeded by the 
running of the other one, for he must have passed 
somev/here near here. And the running of a deer will 
nearly always alarm every deer within hearing of the 
sound of his hoofs. So generally will they take alarm 
from any other animal. 

By the time your circle is nearly completed you find 
that the doe and two fawns have left the ridges and 
gone across a flat creek-bottom. This does not, how- 
ever, prove your circle enterprise a profitable one, for 
you could easily have discovered this in time without 
throwing away the prospects you had for a shot at the 
other three deer. 

You follow the trail of the doe and fawns across 
the creek, where it turns and goes up the creek-bot- 
tom some twenty or thirty yards from the creek. 
Thus far they have been walking along nearly to- 
gether, and at an ordinary pace. But now the trails 
are separating and the steps get shorter and more ir- 
regular. Here one has wandered off a few rods to 
one side ; here another has stopped at a bush and 
nibbled a few twigs ; there the old one has been trav- 
eling rather aimlessly around and through a patch 
of black-haws. All these signs tell you to be very 
careful, for they may be within sight at this instant, 



HUNTING ON SNOW. 129 

though they may also have gone on half a mile or 
more. On the way to lie down deer will often stop 
an hour or two in such a place to browse and stand 
around a while. That is what these have been doing, 
and as it is yet early they may yet be here. 

Priding yourself upon your caution and acuteness 
you move quietly along, with rifle ready and eyes 
piercing every bush far into the distance, for some 
three hundred yards. There on the other side of a 
thin patch of wild-plum bushes you find that refresh- 
ing sight with which your eyes are already so familiar, 
the long-jumps. There are three sets of them, and 
all beautifully long. At first you are inclined to ejac- 
ulate ; but your chagrin yields at once to wonder, for 
a glance into the brush shows you that they were all 
on foot in it when they started. Yet the brush is so 
thin that you can see plainly all through it, and you 
recognize the plum-patch as one at which you looked 
very keenly some two hundred yards back and thought 
then that you could see distinctly through it. 

And you naturally wonder how they got started. 
Well, when your head first arrived in sight of that 
brush they were standing in there, two of them brows- 
ing, the other looking back in the direction from 
which they came. You have already been told of 
what an advantage the animal that is at rest has over 
the one that is moving. You have also learned that 
an animal in brush can see out much better than one 
outside can see in. And I must again remind you 
that a deer standing still in brush is, even with the 
aid of snow as a background, one of the hardest 
things in the world to detect with the eye. 

But you cannot comprehend how they could have 
run without your seeing them at all. If they saw 



130 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

enough of your head to take the alarm, how could 
their whole bodies escape your eyes, especially when 
that bit of brush was the first thing on which your 
eyes rested when you came in sight of it at all ? It is 
rather a puzzle, it is true; but its only solution is this: 
a deer's eyes, when watching his back track, are as 
keen to detect a motion in the woods as are those of 
the wildest antelope on the plain. Some people who 
had never hunted very wild deer would doubt this, 
but as you have an hour or two now of time that is 
not very precious I will show you how extremely true 
it is. It will reduce your opinion of yourself consid- 
erably below par, but it will reward you well in future, 
and also give you a good idea of the general futility 
of following upon the track of a deer that you have 
started. 

Let us follow, then, the trail of these three and see 
if we can again get sight of them. Do not try to get 
a shot; be content with even a sight. Go right ahead 
on the trail and look into the woods as far and as 
keenly as you can. Nearly half a mile you follow 
them, the long jumps still continuing. Here they 
have skipped a high fallen log, and in three places 
the snow is switched from it by their descending tails. 
Here one has smashed through a bush, scattering snow 
and dead branches around, and there another has 
struck some boggy ground and splashed mud and 
water around in fine style. But suddenly the jumps 
slacken to a trot ; in a few yards that stops, and you 
find where they have stopped and huddled up, one 
standing sideways, the other two turning all the way 
around. And then the long jumps begin again, still 
longer now than before. 

And yet the ground is all quite open. They stopped 



HUNTING ON SNOW. 131 

behind no brush, no logs, no rising ground, nothing 
to hide them from your sight. Yet it is evident that 
they stopped here and looked back, and that they 
then started again in sudden alarm. Yet the wind 
and the distance are such that they could neither have 
heard nor smelt you. They must therefore have seen 
you ; yet you saw nothing of them, although they 
were under full headway. Do you think this impossi- 
ble ? Does it seem that the second run must have 
been only a continuance of the first run? Then by 
all means follow them to the next place where they 
stop to look back and see what they do there. 

On, on, on, on, nearly half a mile farther go the 
tracks, as if the deer were in a hurdle-race over the 
biggest logs to be found. Then they suddenly stop 
and huddle up ; and then as suddenly go on again in 
jumps as long as ever. 

And so you might keep on the livelong day, seeing 
perhaps two or three times a faint glimpse of dark 
evanescence among the distant trunks, but seeing 
nothing long enough to raise the rifle upon, and four 
fifths of the time seeing not a trace of game at all. 
And yet all the time it is evident that the deer have 
each time seen you. And five times out of six such 
will be your experience with very wild deer, whether 
they be old bucks or young fawns. The sixth time 
you may perhaps get a long standing shot or a closer 
running one in the course of half a day's chase, but 
neither will be good enough to give you much pros- 
pect of hitting. 

The principal difference between these and deer 
that are not very wild is that you will generally get 
sight of the latter, but rarely until they are running 
away. And when you do see them standing it will 



133 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

rarely be long enough, nor will they generally be close 
enough, for anything like a certain shot. This applies 
to the latter deer only when they have once been 
started. Deer that are not very wild seldom or never 
have the trick of watching back upon their track be- 
fore being started. 

You passed a fresh track of a big buck a few mo- 
ments ago that led toward the slash. He has gone 
there to rest a bit after his morning travels. You had 
better try him, for " anybody can kill a buck in run- 
ning-time." At least that is what they say. 

You start off upon his track with much more care 
than you did upon the trail of the others. But this is 
only time wasted. The woods here are quite open for 
several hundred yards, and as far as you can see there 
are no windfalls, brush-patches, or brushy ridges. 
There is no probability that he has stopped anywhere 
along such ground as this when, if you remember the 
woods as you should do, the old slash is less than half 
a mile in the direction the track is leading. 

Reaching the slash you find the trail winds over a 
ridge and down into a little basin. You look very 
long and carefully into the basin, thoroughly inspect- 
ing all the brush it contains. Seeing nothing, you 
descend and follow the trail across it and up the end 
of a ridge that juts into it. On the point of this ridge, 
in a clump of low briers, you find a large, fresh, warm 
bed, with the well-known long jumps leading away 
from it. 

Now stoop low in this bed and you can still see 
every step of the way you came for a hundred and 
fifty or two hundred yards back. While your eyes 
were intently fixed upon the track he saw you and 
departed. 



HUNTING ON SNOW. 133 

Now what was the use in keeping your eyes so 
much upon the track ? Can you not tell well enough 
about where it is going to be able to go at least fifty 
yards without looking at it ? And if you must look 
at it, can you not do so with an occasional side glance 
of the eye that does not take your attention from 
anything beyond ? And where the necessity of tread- 
ing so constantly in the tracks ? And what was the 
use in going into that basin at all ? Could you not 
just as well have wound around it out of sight behind 
this ridge to the right? And by so doing could you 
not have found out whether the buck passed out of 
the basin, and just where he left it, quite as surely 
as you could have done by having both eyes and feet 
half the time in his tracks ? Had you done this he 
would not have seen you so soon; and when he did 
see you, you would have had a good running shot at 
him. 

Turn of¥ now to one side and keep down along the 
edge of the " slash,'' and see if any more deer have 
come from the timber to lie down in here. 

A few moments' walk brings you to the trail of two 
yearlings. These you follow for quarter of a mile 
into the "slash," using all your care, skill, eyesight, 
and caution about noise, moving not over half a mile 
an hour, working each foot toe first through the snow 
so as to feel any possible stick or brush that may 
crack beneath it, easing off any twig that could possibly 
scratch on your clothes, and looking, looking, looking 
oh so keenly! You reap at last a common reward of 
honest, patient toil — a sight of two sets of long plung- 
ing jumps leading away from two fresh warm beds. 
The sun smiles sweetly as ever down through the 
bracing air ; the lonely pines are as dignified and sol- 



134 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

emn as usual ; the luxuriant briers embrace your trow- 
sers as fraternally as ever ; and the old logs and stumps 
loom up around you more smiling and bigger than 
before. But sight or sound of venison there is none, 
and you are the sole being in a dreary microcosm of 
snow, brush, briers, stumps, lOgs, and dead trees. 



HOIV TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 135 



CHAPTER XH- 

THE SUREST WAY TO TRACK DEER WHEN VERY WILD. 

Your high opinion of the merits of a " tracking- 
snow" for deer underwent yesterday a very serious 
modification. And if you had continued hunting a 
few days as you did yesterday you might have con- 
cluded that snow was no better than bare ground for 
hunting deer. Your error was a very common and 
natural one, yet one that you might hunt a long time 
without even suspecting. 

You have already seen how deer, when once started, 
watch their back track so keenly that you not only 
stand no chance of getting a shot, but can rarely get 
even sight of them again. And a single deer can do 
this just as well as a dozen could. All deer are so 
nearly alike in this respect that it will rarely avail 
you to follow tracks of those you have started. But 
deer that are little hunted, especially when not hunted 
by tracking, generally pay no more attention to their 
back track than to any other direction ; that is, pre- 
vious to being alarmed. But when much hunted by 
tracking they finally drift into a state of chronic sus- 
picion of their back track. Hence they will learn to 
watch it with as much care before being started as 
they do after being started; and they will select 
places to lie down in from which they can see back 
upon quite a portion of their trail. And this instinct 



136 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

is transmitted by descent until even the fawns will 
watch back. 

I do not mean that all deer, even very wild ones, 
will always do this, but so many of them will that it 
is best to hunt on the assumption that all will. The 
greater includes the less, and you will lose little or 
nothing by dealing with the very tamest deer as if 
they were the very wildest. On the contrary, the use 
of care and skill even in the highest degree will re- 
pay you heavily even when hunting the tamest deer 
that are now to be found. 

Let us now try another style of tactics. Here is 
the trail of a doe and two yearlings that have left the 
ridges about half an hour ago. They have done 
feeding and have gone off to lie down. As you al- 
ready know they may lounge about an hour or two 
before they go to lie down. And during this hour or 
two they may go a quarter of a mile only or a full 
mile, but probably will not go over half a mile. 

You are in a part of the woods that is new to 
you. But never mind that. Glance over the ground 
as far as you can and see if you cannot get a pretty 
fair idea of where those deer will go. You know 
that somewhere on the north is the " slash," and that 
there are windfalls and brushy ridges to the east. 
All the better to know this. But let us suppose you 
have no idea of the "lay of the land " beyond what 
you can see from here. 

Far away in the direction the tracks have gone you 
can make out the dim outline of a long strip of brush 
such as generally lines a little creek. Along that 
creek there is likely to be a fiat with more or less 
brush in it. It was to such ground that your doe 
and fawns went yesterday. There is plenty of such 



HOW TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 137 

ground in nearly all woods, and it is a favorite 
place for deer to while away an hour or two at this 
time of day. 

Such ground, too, is apt to have a ridge on the 
farther side of it. There was a ridge on the side of 
the creek-bottom where you started the doe and 
fawns yesterday, but you never thought of getting 
behind it. Now the chances are four to one that 
these deer are going to that creek-bottom, and once 
there the chances are four to one that they will re- 
main there a while, and in leaving it will go either up 
or down it for some distance. 

Suppose now you let this track entirely alone, strike 
the creek-bottom some three hundred yards below 
where this trail will probably cross it, go across the 
bottom and over the ridge beyond. If the deer have 
gone down the bottom you will cross their track ; and 
if you do not cross any you will have their location 
partly determined. 

Now travel along behind the ridge, and otit of sight, 
for some hundred yards or so. Then look carefully 
over and examine all the ground in sight. Back off 
and go along behind the crest of the ridge another 
hundred yards or so and then take another look. 
You see at once the advantage of this — an advantage 
so great that even the advantage of wind had better 
be subordinated to it, especially as scent blowing over 
a ridge is not so apt to reach anything in a valley; at 
all events, not until you first have a good chance to 
see the game. 

But how do you keep the track all this time ? Per- 
haps they have recrossed the creek. 

And suppose they have; is it not probable that they 
will still continue up the creek-bottom as before ? And 



138 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

are not both sides of the creek-bottom in sight of the 
ridge where you are ? And even if it is, in places, 
quite far, are not your chances of seeing the deer at 
least as good as if you were directly on the track 
again, and on low ground too ? It is difficult to see 
how, next to following the track itself, you can do 
anything more certain to find them than what you 
are now doing. You know they have not gone below ; 
if they cross the ridge you are on you will meet their 
track ; if they keep on up the creek-bottom you will 
be on a parallel with them; and if they recross the 
creek and go in the direction they came from, which 
is highly improbable, you will only lose a little time 
in finding it out. And such time will not be impor- 
tant, for such a movement will generally indicate that 
they have gone to lie down, in which case there is 
certainly no haste. And no matter what your opinion 
may be about where they have gone, until you know 
they are off this ground be in no haste. Let your 
motto in tracking always be. Positively no haste, except 
on such kinds of ground as clear open woods, etc., 
where deer so rarely stop that it does not repay you 
to lose time. 

For three hundred or four hundred yards more you 
keep behind the ridge, which is sometimes low, some- 
times high, sometimes near, and sometimes far from 
the creek, and sometimes cut with a hollow. Yet you 
see nothing, though you stop at every seventy or 
eighty yards and take a good look. The creek-bot- 
tom goes on some distance yet, and they are proba- 
bly still ahead. 

Yet wherever it is possible, without too much dan- 
ger of being seen, to slip in and see if you are still 
parallel with the track, it is better to do so. And 



HOW TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 139 

here is a good opportunity to do that very thing, for 
just ahead of you a little streamlet runs into the creek. 
Its bottom is low, and its sides are so fringed with 
brush that you can steal down to the main creek with 
little danger of being seen. 

You reach the main creek and find no tracks. They 
must then have crossed it. The ridges on the other 
side are now nearly as close to the creek as those you 
have just left. Might it not be expedient to get be- 
hind them instead of going back to the others ? Un- 
doubtedly it would be if you can get behind them 
without being seen, and that you can easily do by 
going back two hundred or three hundred yards or 
so. The loss of that much distance amounts to noth- 
ing, and you can there cross the track and find its 
course as well as here. 

But stop ; not that way. Go back behind your 
ridge again and retrace your old track. It looks like 
unnecessary particularity, I admit, but then it takes 
little time. And take my word for it when I tell you 
that a fair percentage of your failures in still-hunting 
comes from leaving in your net a few loose knots, 
to tighten which would have cost you only a trifle 
more of work, care, and time. And mark another 
thing. While going back do not neglect to look the 
creek-bottom over again because you have once ex- 
amined it. 

Back you go nearly two hundred yards, looking 
over the ridge from time to time as before. Over 
across the creek upon ground you thoroughly scanned 
before something catches your eye. It is only a spot 
about the size of your hat, but in shape it is marvel- 
ously like the haunch of a deer that is almost hidden 
by the upturned butt of a huge fallen tree. The tree 



140 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

has lain there a long time ; brush has grown up 
around it; its trunk and branches alone would hide a 
dozen deer standing behind it. Therefore be very- 
careful. 

Several questions now crowd and jostle each other 
in your mind. 

ist. Is it a deer ? 

2d. If so, is it not too small a mark to hit at such a 
distance (at least a hundred and fifty yards) ? 

3d. If too far, shall I try to get closer or wait for it 
to move and present a fuller mark ? 

4th. Which way shall I go to get closer, directly to- 
ward it or go up the creek a way and come down ? 

5th. If I wait for it to move, may it not move out of 
my sight as well as into it ? 

All these are very pertinent, but are easy to answer. 

ist. It has the unmistakable outline of a deer's 
haunch. The shape of the lower part and leg settles 
that sufficiently to make it worth while to risk a shot. 
It is very dark in color, but then a deer nearly always 
looks dark upon a background of snow. 

2d. It is too small a mark for a novice to shoot at 
from this distance. If you raise your sights or hold 
over it you are very liable to miss it. If you draw a 
fine sight on it you are liable to miss it or only break 
a leg. It is a shot which none but a skilled marks- 
man — skilled in the field on game — can make with 
certainty even with a rest. 

3d. Even if it moves and shows its full body, it will 
still be too fine a shot for a beginner to make, so you 
had better get closer. 

4th. The farther you can keep from the deers' back 
track in approaching them the better. The other 
two are undoubtedly there watching, and may be on 



nx yfrv jm^ 




HOW TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 141 

this side of the log, and standing up, too, although 
you do not see them. 

5th. It is just as liable to move out of your sight as 
in it. But then another one is just as liable to move 
into your sight as remain out of it, as at present. 

On the whole, your best chance is to go back to 
where you came to the creek a while ago, cross it, 
and, stooping low, swing around in line with any little 
rise of ground, windfall, or heavy clump of brush, 
etc., you find between you and the deer, get behind 
that and wait patiently. For if you try to get close 
enough to the fallen tree to see the deer, you will be 
quite apt to see nothing but the flip of their tails as 
they make off in line with it. And if you wait a 
while they will be quite certain to move and perhaps 
come towards you. And if they lie down there, you 
will then be able to approach much closer than you 
now can, and get a much better running shot — since 
you would probably have to take one anyhow — than 
you now could. 

A very slight change of circumstances would modify 
all this advice. If you were a good cool shot it would 
be better perhaps to shoot from where you are; and 
so it would be better even for a poor shot if he had to 
approach that tree from the trail-side, or from open 
ground above. And if there were a ridge near by on 
the other side it would be better to get behind that. 
And all these considerations might be changed again 
by the question of wind. It would be impossible 
within the limits of a readable book to go through 
every case of this sort with its modifications. But 
when you are once familiar with the representative 
cases or leading conditions, nearly all the modifica- 
sions will soon suggest themselves. There are of 



142 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

course certain kinds of ground where it is safe to 
walk on the trail; but wherever you can keep away 
from it without losing it, it is better to do so. 

So far we have had no trouble in keeping the course 
of the trail. And after you once get well acquainted 
with a deer's habits about feeding, lounging, and going 
off to lie down, you will have little trouble in this re- 
spect. And you will have far less when you once 
know the ground well. But sometimes you will have 
some trouble with it, especially in brushy timber, in 
heavy pine where deer are apt to meander more in 
their course. And so during a storm, or in such tim- 
ber as it is hard to keep your course in, such as heavy 
pine in a cloudy day. In all such cases you will have 
to swing in frequently upon the trail, taking advan- 
tage of course of any hollows, etc., to do so. 

We have also had no trouble this morning to keep 
out of sight. We shall often find ground where there 
is little shelter from friendly ridges. As I advised 
you before, such ground is generally unprofitable to 
the still-hunter. But if you happen to be on it you 
will find the advantages of side-tracking very great. 
The better way there, is to make half-circles, going far 
away from the trail, then coming down at right angles 
to it and keeping a most careful watch on both sides, 
then backing out and swinging around again. You 
can sometimes see the track at quite a distance, but 
rarely from a distance that is safe. You had better 
always depend upon your knowledge of the deer's 
course and upon occasional coming into the track. 

Sometimes a deer will make a circuit before lying 
down, and then lie down on one side of his main trail. 
In such case he is almost certain to see you if you are 
directly upon the trail, as you travel too much in his 



HOW TO TRACK VERY WILD DEER. 143 

sight. Whereas if you circle it you may come in 
upon him from the side that he is not watching. Or 
if you happen on the other side of the main trail you 
will perhaps be so far off that he cannot see you, and 
when you finally miss the trail you may swing around 
the doubling point and come in upon him from be- 
hind. At all events, if a deer does play this trick on 
you, you are in no worse condition than if you were 
on the trail. And you may be in a much better one. 

Where a trail runs toward a heavy windfall into 
which you can see no better from one side than from 
the other, you may feel an inclination to keep close to 
the track because you feel that the deer, if inside the 
windfall, cannot see you. This is in a measure true. 
But he may have stopped just in the edge of it. If 
he has, you will be quite certain to lose him by a 
direct approach. Whereas if you circle around and 
come along the edge he will be much less apt to see 
you. And if he runs he will probably give you a 
much better shot by running away from it instead 
of plunging directly into it, as he would probably 
otherwise do. 

A hunter may picket his horse with a "granny- 
knot" on his neck and a slip-knot on the stake and 
may find him fast there in the. morning. If he use a 
bowline-knot and a clove-hitch he will find him fast 
if nothing breaks. Yet the two latter knots take no 
more time or trouble to tie than the other. So there 
are many cases where it is as easy to follow the very 
tamest deer away off on one side as directly on the 
track. On the track may do; but the other way is 
vastly surer. 

How far this plan of side-tracking or circling will 
avail with antelope I cannot say. But they are such 



144 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

rangers that where it will be worth while to follow 
their tracks at all too much time would probably be 
lost by circling. Their eyes are moreover so keen when 
they are much hunted, and they keep such a constant 
watch upon every quarter of the horizon, especially 
when there are many together, that it may be doubted 
whether anything can be gained by the mere direc- 
tion of approach. 



TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 145 



CHAPTER XIII. 

TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 

In tracking deer upon bare ground a diflficulty 
meets us which is practically unknown in tracking 
upon snow; namely, recognizing the footprints. On 
snow one can generally watch the trail with an oc- 
casional side glance of the most careless kind, keep- 
ing all his attention directed toward catching first 
sight of the game. But on bare ground not only is 
keener sight necessary to detect the game, but a large 
part of the attention so necessary for that purpose 
has to be diverted toward finding and recognizing 
the footprints of the trail. 

I have read some very weak stuff about the stupen- 
dous difficulties of tracking upon bare ground. I 
have read very able articles by eminent sportsmen in 
our best magazines in which the tracking of a moose 
weighing nearly a thousand pounds was depicted as 
a vast and wondrous achievement, the ability to do 
which was reserved to the gifted Indian and denied 
to the poor Paleface. There are indeed some people 
who could not track an elephant through a dew-cov- 
ered clover-patch; but there is not a backwoods boy 
of sixteen who ever has to hunt up a lost yearling calf 
in the woods, not a young vaquero in California who 
ever followed an animal over the rugged hills, who 
would not laugh at those articles and declare the 
author a gosling. The authors of such articles are, 



146 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

however, no such thing, but simply careless writers 
who allow their admiration of the Indian to run away 
with their pens.' But the effect of all such stuff is 
bad. It deters from attempting tracking many a one 
who might easily attain, not great skill, but enough 
for good sport. 

There may be a hereditary tendency in the Indian 
which makes it more easy for him to learn tracking; 
but he has also vastly more practice. And herein 
lies the main secret — perfect sight and practice, prac- 
tice, practice. And with practice the average white 
man is fully equal to the average Indian. There will 
be a difference in individuals just as there is in the 
knack or facility of doing anything, and consequently 
some Indians will excel some white men. But if the 
average Indian excels the average white man, it is in 
what he will do and not in what he can do. He will 
run all day with nothing to eat, keeping a dog-trot 
nearly all the time for a single deer. The white man 
has more regard for the day of reckoning, and will 
rarely throw away his health or prematurely use up 
his strength for such a paltry reward as a deer. And 
just so the Indian will cling to a trail and even- 
tually secure the game when the white man would 
give it up as involving more patience or work than 
the game was worth. The Indian hunts for food; 
when he sets out for it he is bound to have it, and he 
will continue the chase as long as daylight allows him. 
Here he undoubtedly excels. And, so far as I am con- 
cerned, he is triply welcome to all the glory of this 
superiority. 

Tracking on bare ground is, however, very often diffi- 
cult, and IS neverany too easy. On some kinds of ground 
it is impossible for either white man or Indian to track 



TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 147 

an animal as light and as small-hoofed as a deer fast 
enough to be of any avail; and often where it can be 
done it is too tedious even for the Indian. He rarely 
tracks a single deer on most kinds of bare ground un- 
less it is wounded or deer are very scarce. Where a 
single track goes through heavy timber; where the 
ground is covered with dry dead leaves or dry dead 
grass; where it is very dry and hard, or is stony or 
frozen ; where it is thickly covered with brush, dry 
weeds, canebrake, etc., — rare is the hunter, either 
white or red, who will have patience to follow a track. 
And often they could not if they would. More often, 
however, they merely skip such places and depend 
upon picking up the trail on better ground; but where 
the whole or greater part of the ground is of the 
nature above described, nearly all hunters let the 
tracks alone, unless they be tracks of a traveling 
band. 

But, on the other hand, there are some kinds of 
ground on which a deer can be followed with almost 
as much certainty as on snow, and so fast as to re- 
quire little patience on the part of the hunter. Such 
are the bare hilly regions where the ground is not too 
rocky, and where little or no grass grows and the 
brush is not too thick. Such is almost all open ground 
when very wet and not too much covered with dead 
grass, weeds, etc.; such is most open ground covered 
with green grass, especially if the dew is on it; such 
is ground on which wild cattle range, and where the 
deer often follow the cattle-trails and make runways 
of their own from one trail to another. On these and 
various other kinds of ground it often is worth while 
to work up a trail of even a single deer; but just when 
and where this will be worth while depends so entirely 



148 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

upon the nature of the ground, the size of the deer, 
the distance it is likely to travel, the age of the track, 
its direction, the time of day, etc., that it is quite im- 
possible to lay down any useful rule. It is a thing to 
be decided by the circumstances of each particular 
case. 

But though it may not be worth while to track a 
single deer on bare ground, the case is often quite 
different when there are several. A band of five or 
six deer is quite easy to follow, and even a doe and 
two fawns will keep so close together that where 
the track of one is extremely faint that of another 
near by it is very plain. So long as they keep near 
together, so that one fills up the dim part of the trail 
of another, a band is quite easy to track; but when 
they begin to straggle out and wander here and there 
they get harder to follow, and, as before, in tracking 
on snow, it is now best to leave the tracks for a while 
and look out for the game from behind some ridge. 
Still it will not always be advisable to follow even a 
band, if deer are plenty enough without doing so; for 
though it is easier for you to see some of them, it is 
also much easier for them to see, or hear, or smell 
you. So if the ground is very level or brushy, with 
no good lookout-places or facilities for circling well, 
or if the wind be wit)ng, it is often best not to bother 
even with tracking several deer if others are plenty 
enough to give you a fair chance elsewhere. 

If you only expect to hunt a little at long intervals 
it will not be worth while to study tracking on bare 
ground, for to acquire sufficient skill to do it rapidly 
enough, and with certainty enough, requires unques- 
tionably a large amount of practice. But, on the 
other hand, if you intend to do any considerable 



TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 149 

amount of still-hunting you should by all means 
practice it. And to begin this it is not necessary to 
wait until the necessity arises. The first steps in the 
art can be learned by practicing on your own trail. 

To do this go first upon ground that is soft enough 
to take the impression of your foot. After walking a 
hundred yards or so, circle around backward and 
look for your trail. Then follow it, not with your 
eyes upon any one track and then shifting to the 
next one, but with eyes fixed as far away as possible, 
and with a gaze that takes in at once twenty-five or 
thirty feet of the trail. After trying this for a few 
days you will discover a marked difference in the 
speed with which your eye catches each footprint, in 
the distance at which it will catch them, and in the 
number it will take in at once. On each day look 
also for the tracks of the preceding day and days before 
that, until you can no longer find them ; and note care- 
fully the difference in the appearance of freshness, 
a very important point. When it becomes easy to 
find and follow your trail on such ground, change to 
more difficult ground. Unless you live in a large city 
all this kind of practice may easily be had near home. 
A cow or horse track, off the road, is also good to 
practice on. But remember to always try and see as 
far ahead as possible on the trail. Tracking does not, 
as some might suppose, consist in picking out each 
step by a separate search, but in a comprehensive 
view of the whole ground for several yards ahead. 
Sometimes it is necessary to grope one's way from 
step to step like a child in its primer, as where the 
trail gets very faint or turns much; but generally the 
experienced tracker reads several yards of the trail at 
a glance, just as the fluent reader does words in a 



150 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

book. The gaze is fixed quite as much on the sur- 
rounding ground, and the trail appears almost to 
stand out in relief. 

The appearance of a deer's track upon bare ground 
varies very much, and a trail may in a quarter of a 
mile run through a dozen or more variations. All 
appearances may, however, be included under the fol- 
lowing heads, and the great majority of tracks you 
will see will correspond exactly with the description 
of the class : 

ist. Distinct impressions of the whole hoof. 

2d. Faint impressions of only the points of the 
hoof. 

3d. A slight rim of dirt or dust thrown up by the 
sharp edge of the hoof. 

4th. Slight scrapes upon hard ground, recognizable 
only by the change of color, being made by a faint 
grinding of the finest particles of the surface without 
any impression. 

5th. Mere touches or spots showing only a faint 
change in the shade of the color. There is scarcely 
any air so dry that the ground during the night will 
not absorb a trace of moisture. The least disturb- 
ance of the top particles of such soil, even without 
grinding them over each other, will make a difference 
in the shade of the color, which will be visible under 
some point of view though invisible from others, de- 
pending upon the direction of the light. 

6th. Crushing or grinding of the surface of friable 
rocks, and mere scrapes or scratches on harder rock 
or frozen ground. 

7th. Depressions in moss, grass, dead leaves, etc. 

8th. Dead leaves, sticks, etc., kicked or brushed 
aside or overturned, or broken or bent, etc. 



TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 151 

9th. A plain bending or separating of the spears of 
grass or weeds. This is generally caused by the feet 
treading down the stalks at the bottom and not as the 
next (No. 10) is. 

loth. A bending of the spears of grass or weeds, 
etc., by the legs of the passing animal. In this case 
the bend itself of the spears is hardly noticeable except 
by the change in the shade of light cast by them. In 
such case a faint streak of differently shaded color 
will be found running through the grass or weeds, 
visible only from some directions. 

nth. Change of color from brushing dew, rain- 
drops, or frost from grass, weeds, etc. 

i2th. Upturning of the under surfaces (generally 
moist) of stones, leaves, etc. 

These twelve classes include about all you will 
need to study. There are of course some others, 
but generally so accidental and rare that you had 
better skip such places and seek the trail farther on, 
such as the under surface of dry leaves pressed against 
wet ones beneath but not upturned. It will not be 
worth while to spend time on a trail in looking for 
such signs. 

Where the animal has run or bounded it is of 
course easy to follow. But this generally shows that 
you have alarmed it, or that some one else has. You 
already know your prospects in such a case. About 
the only tracks worth following are those where the 
animal was walking, and these are the very hardest. 

I should deem it unnecessary to mention the pecu- 
liar shape of a deer's track had I not known the 
tracks of both hogs and sheep frequently taken 
for those of a deer. Both hogs and sheep have 
more round and uneven pointed hoofs than a deer 



153 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

has. A hog, too, spreads his toes out, and a sheep 
generally does more or less. A deer always keeps his 
toes tight together except when running, and some- 
times when walking on wet and slippery ground. 
There is once in a great while a deer with spreading 
toes, and once in a great while a sheep with a foot 
almost like a deer's foot. But these are too rare to 
give you any trouble. The feet of an antelope are 
still sharper, if possible, than those of a deer, though 
there is often resemblance enough to deceive nearly 
any one judging by the mere footprints without re- 
gard to the nature of the ground, the number of an- 
imals, etc. A calf has also a spreading foot and 
much more rounding toes than those of a deer, as 
well as a larger hoof. The goat makes a solid track, 
very uneven in front. The difference in the distance 
of the step will generally settle most cases of doubt, 
as a deer has a much longer step than a sheep, hog, 
or goat. The feet of these animals also drag more in 
snow than do those of a deer. 

When the track runs over ground where it becomes 
hard to recognize it is best to skip that part and look 
for it farther on. And this must also be done where 
you can easily follow it but cannot do so without 
some danger of alarming the game ; as where the 
trail runs down a hill-side in plain view of the valley 
or basin in which the game is likely to be, or turns 
down wind, etc. etc. And where it is necessary to 
circle the trail when deer watch the back trail, etc. 
etc., it must be found again in the same way. 

In order to do this a knowledge of the deer's hab- 
its and movements is indispensable. So is a quick 
and comprehensive grasp of the features (or " lay of 
the land ") of the country where you do not already 



TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 153 

know them. You must know the kind of ground to 
which a deer is most likely to go at any particular 
time of day, the length of time he is likely to remain 
there, how far he is likely to travel, etc. etc., and be 
quick to see the most advantageous way to approach 
such places as the game may probably be in, as well 
as the best and easiest place to regain the trail. All 
of which will so vary with the locality and the wild- 
ness of the deer that little advice can be given about 
it except generally, as has been already somewhat 
done and will be continued farther on. And even 
where the trail is easily followed this kind of knowl- 
edge will enable you to make many advantageous 
flank movements, etc. 

The freshness of a track is generally less easy to 
determine upon bare ground than upon snow, though 
it can be done with far more certainty than one would 
suppose. It is indeed often more difficult than it is 
upon snow to distinguish a track five minutes old 
from one two or three hours old. And sometimes a 
difference of several hours cannot be noticed. But it 
is generally very easy to tell with certainty the track 
of to-day from that of yesterday. There are places, 
however, where sometimes even this can hardly be 
done, as in coarse dry sand, dry dead weeds and 
grass where the stalk does not straighten again, but 
the slant remains and continues to make a different 
shade of light, etc. etc. 

Where dew, frost, or rain-drops have been brushed 
from grass or weeds the freshness is of course unmis- 
takable. So where wet leaves, stones, etc., have been 
upturned, if the air is dry the freshness is also easy 
to determine. The beginner will find little trouble 
with anything but dry ground, rocky ground, etc. 



154 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

And here he must learn to note the shade of color 
in case of mere scrapes, and the smoothness and fine- 
ness of the outlines in case of distinct impressions. 
Where tracks are not deep they are often obliterated 
in a few days, and this even without any rain or strong 
wind. There is always more or less moving of ants 
and birds over them ; there is always more or 
less dust falling from the air, the bushes, etc., and 
the faintest breeze stirs up more. If they do not 
in a few days obliterate a track all these things will 
quickly give it an appearance unmistakably old. The 
brighter color, too, of any track on dry ground will 
generally by one night, however dry the air may ap- 
parently be, be restored to the color of the ground 
around it, though the outline, if any, may yet remain 
distinct. On the dry hills of Southern California I 
have time and again noticed that tracks that I had 
followed with ease, and where the imprint of the hoof 
was perfect, were gone in four or five days, and this 
where there were no quails trooping over the trail. 
This same obliteration takes place there with the 
droppings during the dry season, though this occurs 
more slowly. They are not merely bleached out, but 
they disappear. This will sometimes happen in a 
fortnight or so, though more often it takes months. 
Where there is rain they will often go sooner. But 
color and gloss will generally determine their age 
anywhere. 

I have confined myself in this chapter only to very 
general hints, as nothing will supply the place of 
practice, and practice will supply all I have omitted. 
Without practice, and considerable of it, much success 
in bare tracking is out of the question. It is not 
half as hard as it is generally represented, but it is 



TRACKING ON BARE GROUND. 155 

Still no child's play. As long as you have to grope 
your way from track to track it will be too slow. You 
must study the ground until you can see tracks almost 
stick out from it, and see the line of the trail yards 
and rods ahead. 

The besetting sin of most trackers when upon bare 
ground is allowing the trail to take too much of their 
attention. And often while they are looking at the 
trail the game is looking at them. 

Sometimes it may be best to skip the whole of the 
trail, using its direction only as a general guide ; as 
where you find it leading from a spring toward some 
brushy basin upon the mountain-side, which is a fa- 
vorite resort for deer during the day. And sometimes 
if you find a fresh trail coming down from such a 
place to a spring, but can find no trail returning, it 
may even be worth while to back-track the incoming 
trail, as the deer may have returned to the basin by 
a roundabout way, over ground or through brush 
where it is too hard to follow them. The size and 
character of the basin and the quantity of other good 
lying-down places must determine such questions. 

Sometimes you get personally acquainted with a 
certain deer or set of deer so that you not only know 
them by sight, but know their tracks at once ; know 
where they will keep, where they will run if started, 
where they will be to-morrow if started to-day, etc. 
You come to know them perfectly, but there is always 
something the matter when you find them. They 
are too far, or jumping too high, or — or — well, in 
short you have not yet got them. The tracks of such 
deer are a pretty sure guide to their whereabouts 
without adhering to the tracks themselves. 



166 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 

Much of the best deer-hunting now to be found in 
the western half of the United States is upon ground 
either quite bare or entirely bare of timber. Not 
only are many first-rate deer-ranges nearly or totally 
destitute of timber, but even where there is plenty of 
timber the deer will sometimes leave it and take the 
open ground. In summer and early autumn they will 
often be found on the prairie miles away from timber 
(though they may go to the timber at night), lying 
during the day in the long grass of the sloughs and 
swales, feeding and standing at evening and in the 
morning along the slopes, on the knolls, in the hol- 
lows, or moving toward the timber or away from it. 
The bluffy ground along Western rivers and streams; 
the brushy ground that often lies between the timber 
and the prairie ; open table-lands cut with ravines; 
the brushy foot-hills of heavily timbered mountains; 
barren rocky-looking hills studded with boulders; 
even bare-looking hills on which you would think at 
a distant glance nothing could live, — all these often 
afford excellent hunting. 

You must not forget that by " open country" I mean 
country bare only of timber and not clean or clear 
ground. On such clear ground as antelope gene- 
rally love the deer will rarely be found. And when 



STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 157 

the deer does go upon such ground it is generally 
for only a portion of the day. Antelope will, how- 
ever, sometimes go upon ground containing con- 
siderable brush or scrub timber if it is thin enough 
to allow them to pass through it without touching 
it too much, such as the cactus and sage-brush 
covered parts of plains and deserts. And on such 
ground the deer may be sometimes found in the 
company of his handsome cousin. But the open 
country that is generally worth hunting at all for 
deer is too brushy for antelope. It is generally cov- 
ered with brush, long grass, or something from knee- 
high up to above the height of your head, with plenty 
of cover in the sloughs, swales, gulches, basins, pockets, 
and valleys. If cover be wanting on the ridges these 
sloughs and gulches, etc., must contain it or there 
will be few or no deer, as the animal will have cover 
somewhere. 

Upon all such ground that is worth hunting at all 
there is generally far more cover that can completely 
conceal the body of a deer than there is in such tim- 
ber as is worth still-hunting. So that ground which, 
if timbered, would afford very poor still-hunting may, 
when open, afford very good; the reason of which we 
shall see as we go on. But to insure such result the 
open ground should be quite rolling, even more roll- 
ing than is necessary to success in timber. Or if it is 
of the nature of table-land it should be well cut up 
with brushy gulches, valleys, basins, and pockets, etc. 
If the ground be too level the deer will have the im- 
mense advantage of being in cover that conceals all 
but part of his head when it is upraised, while the 
whole upper part of your body is often in his plain 
view. And his head is often so nearly the color of 



158 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the brush that it is hard to see, and it will be gener- 
ally too small a mark to hit if you do see it. 

The daily life of a deer in such ground varies little 
from his life in the woods. He is, however, more apt 
to lie in valleys and under an occasional tree along an 
open hill-side than when in the woods, and will often 
take denser brush to lie down in. But as a rule, deer 
will move from their feeding and watering ground to 
higher, rougher, and more brushy ground to lie down 
on. And much hunting will surely drive them to 
higher and rougher ground and thicker brush. 

Upon such ground deer are much more apt to 
travel in paths. In the Spanish-American States and 
Territories there are numerous cattle-trails which 
deer are quite certain to travel; on which tracking is 
mere play as long as they keep the trail; and where 
there are no cattle they are apt to make trails or run- 
ways of their own up the bottom or along the sides of 
valleys and across or along the ridge between two 
valleys. In open ground one can still-hunt often in 
summer and early fall, while in the woods he would 
have to await the falling of the leaves for good suc- 
cess. 

Here, too, water is often much scarcer than in 
timber, and often the water-holes are the very best 
places to go to first to find the direction deer have 
taken. Sometimes this kind of ground will have bush 
acorns, but if there are none the deer will find food 
enough in the leaves and twigs of the brush; so that 
if there is enough green bush in sight you need not 
allow the question " What is there for them to live 
on ?" to trouble you in the least. But should there be 
any groves of oaks or other nut or fruit bearing trees, 
the fruit of which deer love, such groves will be quite 



■■,£L- 




The deer is alarmed. The first shot must be a sure one. 
Yet you must be as steady as if only trying your rifle at a target. 



STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 159 

sure to concentrate the game when the nuts or fruits 
are ripe. 

Even at the risk of being considered tedious, I have 
tried X-O force n^^on the learner tlie extreme importance 
of seeing a deer before he sees the hunter, and the 
extreme difficulty, in the majority of cases, of doing this. 
If the learner thinks me tedious, I know not what he 
will think of experience if he waits for that to force 
this truth upon him. Now in open ground this im- 
portance and this difficulty are not a whit less than in 
timber. Where deer are very plenty the wider and 
longer range of view may enable one to see something 
sooner than in the woods; but where they are only 
moderately plenty, or at all scarce, it generally be- 
comes, in such open ground as is worth hunting at 
all, quite as difficult to see them as it is in the woods. 
And often, as in case of the chapparal deer, it is even 
more difficult. 

To see deer well in open ground involves not only 
all the care and acuteness of sight necessary in the 
woods, but needs some special care. 

Some natural mistakes are often made by the hunter 
trained in the woods when he first tries the open 
ground. 

ist. He does not look far enough away. 

2d. He does not look close enough by. 

3d. He forgets that the advantage he has of wide 
range of vision is enjoyed also by his game. 

He is apt to be scanning the ground too much from 
one hundred to two hundred yards away, and lets a 
little dark or brown spot of life on a hill-side half or 
three quarters of a mile away entirely escape his eye. 
And many a deer standing in brush within fifty yards 
of him may either stand still and let him pass by, 



160 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

knowing that he does not see him, or he may slip 
quietly out of it and, with head and tail both down 
low, vanish down some little ravine like a snake glid- 
ing over velvet. 

A deer, too, on this kind of ground can see a man 
almost as far as an antelope can, and often nearly as 
quickly. And he can here distinguish a man at rest 
or motionless much quicker than he can in the woods. 
Hence caution in showing your head over a ridge be- 
comes even more important than it does in the woods. 

Some of the advantages that the hunter here has 
over a deer are very great. Aided by a glass, or even 
by his naked eye if he takes proper care and hunts 
when the game is on foot, he ct n discover a deer be- 
fore it sees him at a distance so great that there is 
little danger of immediately alarming it. He can 
then decide what are his prospects for getting closer, 
and settle upon the best modes of approach. He can 
tell what the game is doing, how long it will be likely 
to remain where it is, which way it will be likely to 
go, and about where to find it if it shall have moved 
while he is approaching it. He can calculate its dis- 
tance better, get a better opportunity for a good rest 
for a long shot, have a better prospect for several 
shots, and can see more of the missing balls strike 
ground, and by their aid correct his errors of eleva- 
tion, etc. He has also a much better opportunity to 
head off game that has been started, or get a shot 
at it by a sudden dash, and to put himself in the path 
of game that he sees moving anywhere toward him. 
His prospects, too, for following up game that has 
been started are often so good that it often rewards 
his pains, where in the woods certain failure would 
be the result. But the great advantage, especially 



STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 161 

for one who has arrived at that period of life when he 
discovers that work is not an indispensable ingredient 
of the pleasure of hunting, is in often being able to 
hunt a vast number of acres with the eye while the 
body is in a state of blissful repose upon some sunny 
rock or shady point; the spirits meanwhile being kept 
in a state of elegant tranquillity by the reflection that 
just at hand is a saddle for which to exchange that 
rock when you wish to move on. 

On the whole, it may be said that the open ground 
is generally the best for the lazy hunter and the bung- 
ler, and out of an equal number of deer to the square 
mile much the best for success. On the other hand, 
the woods give scope to the greater skill and care, 
and give a deeper satisfaction to him who values game 
more for the skill required to bag it than as a thing to 
eat or boast of. 

On this kind of ground you will be very apt to be 
the victim of a new trick. In the woods you found 
that evanescence was the invariable rule of action 
with all deer as soon as they discovered you. But 
you will now meet a deer that will hide or skulk 
silently away in brush quite as often perhaps as he 
will try to avoid you by running. All kinds of deer 
when inhabiting very dense cover learn, as nearly all 
wild animals do, that skulking out of sight is just as 
effective as running, and much cheaper. The reason we 
have so far seen no skulking deer was that in woods 
open enough for successful still-hunting there is not 
enough thick cover to hide a deer from a man only 
a few yards off. But on such open ground as is 
worth hunting there is generally considerable of such 
cover, and in many places you cannot get high enough 
above it to see down into it. This cover a deer knows 



163 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

at once. Hence the same deer that in the woods will 
start at the faintest crack of a twig two hundred yards 
away, when he goes to the dense brush on the edge of 
the timber, the long slough grass of the prairies, or the 
chapparal of the open hills, may let you walk within 
ten yards of him without moving. He may be lying 
down and continue lying perfectly still, as a wild-cat, 
fox, or coyote often does in cover. He may be feed- 
ing and simply drop his head and neck out of sight 
and stand still. Or he may be running with high 
elastic bounds, then suddenly, on reaching the right 
kind of brush, drop into a low sneaking trot, then 
come to a walk, and then stand still with head down 
and body motionless. In Southern California deer 
that will weigh a hundred and fifty pounds can 
almost sneak out of sight in a potato-patch. Well as 
I know the trick and their capacity for playing it, I am 
yet occasionally amazed by seeing them disappear in 
brush scarcely waist-high. In following up wounded 
ones in brush not over waist-high I have frequently 
been unable to catch sight of them, although I could 
hear them start and run only a few yards ahead. 
And yet the natural gait of these deer is a bound, or 
rather bounce, so high that a buck will often throw 
his whole body, legs and all, clear of brush five or six 
feet high. This is a trick that there seems no good 
way of circumventing. Where you know a deer is 
hiding from you, you may sometimes get on higher 
ground and see a bit of his jacket ; or you may sit 
down and wait for him to move. But there seems no 
way to make him stir unless you send a dog in after 
him. Breaking of brush, slapping of hands, bleating, 
stone- throwing, etc. etc., will seldom avail. Some- 
times giving them your scent will move them; but 



STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 163 

when they once get in good brush with the intention 
of hiding they will rarely move for anything but a 
dog. Consequently you gain nothing in such ground 
by making a noise in walking. For you can move 
nothing that has intended to hide, but may move 
several deer that would have known nothing of your 
approach if you had kept still. It is impossible to 
estimate the proportion of deer that will thus hide, as 
in most cases we know nothing of them. A deer, too, 
may hide to-day and let you pass within five yards of 
him that to-morrow, on ground equally good, will 
start two hundred yards from you and run a mile 
without stopping. 

Nor do deer always confine this trick to dense 
brush. On tolerably open ground where the only 
brush consisted of isolated clumps of sumac and other 
bushes fifteen or twenty feet, or even as many yards, 
apart I have repeatedly known them lie without 
moving in these clumps of bushes while I passed all 
around them in their wind, sight, hearing, etc. A 
thoroughly trained dog that can be trusted a few 
yards from your heels is the best thing for such cases, 
as often you cannot rouse the deer without kicking in 
the very bush where it happens to be. There is no 
reason why a well-bred pointer or setter cannot be 
broken to point deer as well as birds. I broke a fox- 
hound puppy to do it, and have seen him make as 
fair a point as ever a dog made on a woodcock, except 
that he sat up instead of straightening out. 

While you must always, in hunting such ground, 
bear in mind the possibility of deer thus hiding, you 
must still govern all your actions and movements by the 
presumption that they will act as you have seen them do 
in the woods. For this will be the greatest difficulty 



164 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

you will have to meet. The deer that hide may as 
well be counted out. Your bag must be made up from 
the number of those that would run away or which 
you can catch without giving them an opportunity to 
consider what they will do. 

It is still more expedient than in case of timber- 
deer to hunt these open-country deer during the time 
of day when they are on foot. For they are a beast 
of exceeding perversity and scorn all the hundred 
and one nice places that you select for them to lie in. 
Moreover, they will, especially when much hunted, 
lie so much in heavy brush that you can rarely get a 
good shot if you do start one from his bed. Besides 
this they are much more apt to skulk if lying down 
when they hear you than if standing. Nevertheless, 
when deer are keeping on ground covered only with 
isolated clumps of high brush, whether on the ridges 
or in valleys, excellent sport may often be had by 
jumping them. Especially is this so where one is a 
good tracker on bare ground, or there is snow enough 
to track by. 

Much more advantage can be taken of the running- 
time in open ground because a running deer can be 
seen at so much greater distance. Good speed must, 
however, be niade, if you have any distance to go, to 
get ahead on the course of a running deer. 

On open ground it is quite as essential to distin- 
guish the night beds and tracks from those made by 
day as it is in timber. For at night a deer is seldom 
afraid to go anywhere, and will jump the fence of a 
garden that he will be a mile away from at daybreak. 

So, too, noise must be avoided as far as possibly 
consistent with proper speed. A careless walker will 
indeed get shots at deer in open country where in the 



' -/^''f^^f^ 




Your difficulties are vastly increased by timber. You should 
have been on the ridge. Now his loss is certain, whereas you 
might have had a chance it on high ground. 



STILL-HUNTING ON OPEN GROUND. 165 

/troods with the same amount of noise he would not 
get even a sight of them. So even the best of hunters 
must often make a noise in the brush of open ground. 
But though, on account of the greater distances of 
game, etc., in open ground, noise is not so fatal to suc- 
cess as in the woods, it still does no good and 7nay do 
harm. Where a noisy hunter sees one deer, two slip 
away without his dreaming of their existence. 

The question of wind is sometimes more important 
and at other times less important than in the woods. 
A cafion, valley, or even a hill may alter the course 
of the wind that a moment ago you thought you had 
in your face. And a cafion carries the wind farther 
and faster than any current in the woods. On ridges, 
etc., it is of not so much consequence, as the currents of 
the intermediate valleys will generally keep the scent 
from crossing from ridge to ridge. The distance, too, 
at which game may be seen often makes it of less im- 
portance than it is in the woods where the distances 
are less. 

The question of sun is here of more importance 
than anywhere else. And where your game must be 
seen at very long distances, as on long rolling prairie- 
or table-land, or long wavy hills without much ele- 
vation, everything else should often be sacrificed to it. 

The "lay of the land" is here quite as important to 
learn as it is in the woods. And what is known as 
" the run of the deer" is even more so, for it is more 
variable. You must be careful how you decide that 
there is no game until you have searched not only 
different kinds of ground, different kinds of brush, but 
especially different elevations. I have often found 
fine-looking ground bare of deer, and a mile away 
found plenty on the same kind of ground. But they 



166 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

were a thousand feet higher up. In the cold nights 
of fall and winter the elevation often is very import- 
ant. The belt or stratum of warmest air lies between 
five hundred and two thousand feet above sea-level, 
the valleys being very cold as well as the very high 
land. During the night and during the time deer 
stand in the morning sun they will be more apt to 
be found along this belt than anywhere else. 



DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 167 



CHAPTER XV. 

DEER ON OPEN GROUND, 

Perhaps the most important question in hunting 
open country is where to walk, on high or low ground. 
This must not be confounded with the question of 
where to hunt, on high or low elevations — a question, 
as we have seen, can in general be satisfactorily an- 
swered only by an actual inspection of the ground 
itself as all ground worth hunting must be examined. 
But having selected the elevation of ground which 
contains the most game, then arises the question, 
Where shall I walk, on high or low ground ? 

Very good authority says, "Always keep on high 
ground." As we have seen, this is nearly always the 
best plan in the woods. But for open country the 
advice is bad, because stated without the exceptions, 
which are fully equal to the rule itself. As watch- 
towers, as shields behind which to approach your 
game without it seeing you, ridges and hills are so 
essential that if there are none you may generally 
pronounce the ground worthless for still-hunting 
game at all wild, especially antelope. But it by no 
means follows that one should do most of his walk- 
ing on the high ground. 

Where the ridges are low and the valleys narrow, it 
is generally best to keep upon the ridges nearly all of 
the time, certainly during the time the deer are on 
foot. And where the ridges are low and the interven- 
ing valleys are so narrow that you will not have to 



168 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

take too long shots at anything running from the val- 
ley up the opposite ridge, then it is better to remain 
on the ridges even during such time as the deer are 
lying down. But when the ridges are high and the 
valleys broad between them, then it may be folly to 
hunt upon the ridges at all, even during the time 
when the deer are on foot. 

Two things must determine your choice of eleva- 
tion for walking: 

ist. Where are the most deer keeping, in the val- 
leys or on the ridges ? 

2d. From which ground can I the more easily ap- 
proach and get a shot at them, the high or low ? 

If the valleys are of any breadth at the bottom- 
say from forty or fifty yards upward — and contain 
good feed or browse, which, as well as water, they will 
be quite apt to contain, then the greater number of 
deer, if not much disturbed, will often be found in 
the valley at all times of the day. Especially will 
this be the case where the valley is several hundred 
yards and more in width. So also they may often be 
found all day in valleys so narrow at the bottom as 
to be mere ravines, as is often the case in stormy 
weather. 

On the other hand, if the hills are well broken into 
brushy gulches, basins, and pockets, the deer will be 
quite likely to prefer them to the valleys, and if much 
hunted will be quite certain to do so. The warm belt 
mentioned in the last chapter, and other questions 
heretofore discussed, will go far to determine this 
matter, although it cannot be definitely decided in 
any way; and there will nearly always be some deer 
in both places, the only question being as to the 
preponderance. 



DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 169 

Suppose now the deer are in the valleys and the 
hills are high ; the deer are on foot and you are on 
the hills. You see a deer feeding in the valley, but 
he is at least a hundred yards from the foot of the 
hill, and the hill is nearly two hundred yards high. 
This makes the distance too long for accurate shoot- 
ing even on a level, and a down-hill shot of that length 
is the very worst you could have. 

You will get closer then, will you ? Very good. 
But you will rarely do it by going down the hill on the 
valley side. Of all ways to approach a deer the worst 
is down hill in his sight, unless the hill be such that 
you can slide yourself down it sitting or lying down. 
And even that is bad enough. Either deer or ante- 
lope can see anything above them about as quickly 
as they can anything below; at all events, quickly 
enough. In sneaking down hill you show more of 
your body than in crawling up hill, make quicker 
motions, cannot hide behind trees and bushes so well, 
and cannot stop yourself so quickly when a deer 
raises his head as when you are going up hill. An- 
other very important point is that a deer on low 
ground can often notice any motion above him quite 
as well when his head is down as when it is up. But 
if you are below him on a hill-side he can rarely notice 
you when his head is down. Deer cannot, indeed, 
either smell or hear you so well when you are above 
them, but the difference is not enough, in case of high 
hills and long slopes, to outweigh the difference in 
the advantage they have for seeing you. On the 
whole, never try to creep down hill upon deer, and es- 
pecially upon antelope, if you can possibly get a shot 
in any other way. Your chances are but little better, 
even when the hill-side is covered with timber, unless 



170 THE SriLLHUNTER. 

there are very thick trunks behind which to move. 
Going down hill one is apt to think himself unseen 
because he does not see the deer. But the deer, 
meanwhile, sees his legs. 

So you conclude, then, that you will go down the 
back side of the hill and get into the valley in that 
way. This is well enough ; but stop a moment. 
That valley is some three hundred yards in width at 
the bottom. It is covered more or less with bushes 
higher than your head. There are indeed plenty of 
openings in all directions, the bushes being only scat- 
tered clumps. But when you get down there all will 
look alike. Before you can find your deer he may 
move or get into cover, and while looking for him 
you may start another one or two that you have not 
seen from the hill. So you see that, everything else 
being right — such as the wind, quiet walking, etc. — 
you might about as well have been in the valley at 
first as to have taken all the trouble to climb this 
high hill. And such you will find to be the general 
rule where deer are at all plenty and the low ground 
is suitable for walking. Of course if the low ground 
is brushy, and especially if noisy, or if it is too bare 
of cover to protect you from a deer's eyes, or if 
you cannot get the wind in your face, you should 
keep the high ground. And where deer are very 
scarce the high ground is best, as your chances of 
seeing one at all are so slender that you need every 
advantage to see it. In hunting among isolated 
clumps of thick bushes with good openings between 
for easy walking and a view of a hundred or a hun- 
dred and fifty yards in most directions, one has, even 
on level ground, a fair chance to catch deer on foot 
feeding before they see him. This is in fact about 



DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 171 

the only level ground worth still-hunting at all. And 
even there the clumps of brush must be thick, and 
there should be a good breeze in your face. Then 
the valley will generally be the best place to walk. 

So far we have considered deer on foot in the low 
ground. Its advantages for walking when deer are 
lying down are often much greater. Unless you 
have the aid of snow as a background it is almost 
impossible to see deer lying down in a valley; for if 
the day be warm the deer will certainly lie in the 
shade either of a bush or trees, in either of which 
cases you will have a task to see them if you are 
on the hills. Moreover, if the hills are high they 
probably will not start from their beds even if 
they see you. And if they do start you are at a 
great disadvantage. You probably will not jump 
them close enough for any sort of a shot, and they will 
be almost certain to run across the valley or up or 
down it — all bad shots for one on the hill. On the 
other hand, if you are in the valley you will be quite 
certain to start them, and they will be quite apt to 
give you a fair shot ; for a deer running from some- 
thing in a valley is quite apt to run up hill, and when 
running up hill a deer is quite apt to stop two or 
three times in going up, and is almost sure to stop at 
the top for a final look. If you are on a hill and start 
a deer, it is because he sees you and knows exactly 
what you are. He has no more curiosity, and is con- 
cerned only about effecting his disappearance. But if 
you are in the valley and he starts, it is nearly always 
because he hears you. In such case he does not know 
certainly what made the noise and has a strong de- 
sire to know, to which desire, if not too much hunted, 
he will be apt to yield. 



172 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

In a valley, however, the wind is quite certain to be 
moving one way or the other, and you may have to 
go around to the head of it and come down it — a pro- 
ceeding that may not be profitable unless you are cer- 
tain that deer are in there. If a deer escapes you in a 
valley, you have no chance to get another shot with a 
quick dash as you often have in the hills; and you 
are also often deprived of that wide range of vision 
so essential when deer are scarce. But then you 
have a full view of the hill-sides, which, even when 
very bare, steep, or rocky, are often fine places for 
deer to stand and sun themselves. 

But suppose the valley to have broad sloping sides, 
furrowed with little ravines, sprinkled perhaps with 
occasional bushes or trees. It may now be best to 
take the hill-side part of the way up, where you can 
get a good downward view, and a good forward 
and upward view along the slope. This will gener- 
ally be far the best place to walk, for then the deer 
will be as apt to be on the slopes as in the valley. 
Especially is this the best place when the main val- 
ley splits up into little side-valleys, and these again 
into smaller ravines and pockets, or when there are 
little plateaus along the slopes. And even when the 
hills are quite steep, if the walking be good it is 
often best to wind into all these small valleys about 
half-way up the hill. For the wind almost invariably 
draws into such places from the main valley. 

If the deer are in a table-land where the ravines 
and basins are not too deep and wide, then the edges 
of these will be the best places to walk, and one need 
rarely go into them unless when the deer are lying 
down, in which case (unless the ravines are narrow 
and shallow) your best chance is in them. Not only 



DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 173 

is bare tracking generally easier on open ground, but 
much more use can be made of tracks. You can see 
at a much greater distance the particular kinds of 
ground which deer are apt to frequent at different 
times of day. You can see far away the " divides" 
over or along which trails will be apt to pass, and can 
take short-cuts to them. When you reach that part 
of the trail that shows the deer are near at hand, you 
can sit down and wait for them to show themselves. 
When you find tracks leading to a certain basin of 
any size, and see no other ground near it better 
adapted for lying-down ground, you may feel a cer- 
tainty that they are there. Not only are the tracks 
themselves apt to be much more plainly visible than 
they are in the woods, but you have an immense in- 
crease in the ease of following tracks by direction. 
When deer start on a general course, as from a 
spring, you can tell very nearly where they will pass 
half a mile away although the trail itself may mean- 
der considerably. And where trails are hard to fol- 
low, or it becomes necessary to leave the trail often to 
avoid noise or being seen, or because the deer watch 
back, or because the trail has reached a place where 
they may have stopped and you want to get on the 
highest ground to look, such advantages are immense. 
A person of quick comprehensive mind for topog- 
raphy will soon use most of these advantages in 
timber, and in fact they must be used by the success- 
ful tracker. But even such a person will find the ad- 
vantages of the open ground immense. 

In hunting open ground you must, quite as much 
as in the woods, avoid looking for a deer. But spend 
all your time in looking at spots, patches, shades in 
brush, dark shadowy spots by the side of bushes, 



174 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

everything gray, yellowish, reddish, brownish, or 
blackish. Even white spots must not be overlooked, 
for some varieties of deer show considerable white 
behind, and all show a little even with tail down. 
Nothing must be passed by with a careless glance 
because its shape is not that of a deer. If it has the 
color of a deer, give it a second and third look no 
matter what the shape. If it has the shape of the 
game, give it a second and third look without regard 
to its color. If you are in any doubt whether a thing 
be a deer or not and have no glass, either get closer 
without its seeing you or wait a while and see if it 
moves. But beware always how you decide that any 
dubious thing is not a deer. The chances are hun- 
dreds to one against any particular spot or shape 
being a deer. Yet all the danger of error lies in de- 
ciding in the negative. The novice is quick to say, 
" Oh, that's no deer," and pass along. It takes the 
experienced hunter to say, " I really believe that's a 
deer." Once in a while a shot may be thrown away 
upon a rock or stump or shade, but such is a far bet- 
ter course than to be always too prompt with a nega- 
tive decision. This presupposes due care to see that 
the object be not a person — a mistake no good hunter 
ever makes unless some one is fool enough to be out 
hunting with a deer's hide or head, etc. 

When the sun is out nothing that shines or glistens 
should escape your notice. When you are between 
the sun and the deer, as you should be if possible, 
there will seldom be any sheen from his coat or horns, 
though you can see him then much more plainly. 
But if he is between you and the sun, especially when 
the sun is near the horizon, a shiny spot where the 
sun strikes his back may be seen half a mile or more 
away when the body itself would not be noticed. 



DEER ON OPEN GROUND. 175 

So where a buck is standing in brush you may see 
nothing but two or more glistening points where 
the sunlight tips his horns, or you may see a faint line 
of light where it strikes the side of a tine. But do 
not forget that you may not be in position to see this 
sheen or glistening appearance, and consequently must- 
not assume that where nothing shines toward the sun 
there is therefore no deer. 

In hunting antelope not only should every white 
and cinnamon spot as far away as it can be seen be 
investigated either with a glass or by waiting for its 
motion or going closer, but even gray and dark spots 
should receive attention. The head and neck of an 
antelope lying down are quite hard to see at a dis- 
tance, none of the white of the body may show at all, 
and the cinnamon part may cast a far darker shade 
than you would expect to see. 

The habits of deer in open country will be found 
more variable than the habits of the timber-deer; 
mainly because the nature and face of the country 
varies more, as well as the nature, quantity, and ac- 
cessibility of food, etc. Their habits will generally 
be varied more by hunting, there being generally a 
greater variety of cover, etc., in which to spend the 
day. In some places their daily range will be far 
greater than in others. Such things must be learned 
by inquiry from hunters or from careful observation 
in hunting, and often cannot be learned at alJ until it 
is too late to profit by them. But all such things I 
must pass by, even where I know them, as the gen- 
eral information necessary to be known will demand 
too much space to allow anything special or local to 
be stated to any extent. 



176 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 

Having examined in the abstract still-hunting in 
open country, let us now consider it in the concrete. 
We will select for our hunt to-day the mesa, or table- 
land, that lies along the coast and covers much of the 
interior of Southern California. I select this because 
the deer that live on this are essentially open-country 
deer and not timber-deer happening in the open coun- 
try. There are various theories here about deer shift- 
ing from the lowlands to the mountains and vice versa. 
But although this is true as to some deer, it is not as 
to the majority of the deer of the mesas, or table-lands, 
especially near the coast. Most of these deer remain 
there the year round, although they are of the same 
variety as the deer of the mountains. Like all deer 
they are, however, subject at times to a migratory 
mania without any apparent cause; but as to the ma- 
jority of deer it is only at long intervals and without 
any regularity. This is a variety of the mule-deer, 
but somewhat smaller and shorter-legged than the 
mule-deer of the Rocky Mountains. This deer is often 
called the "black-tail," but Judge Caton, of the Illi- 
nois Supreme Court, a naturalist whose opinion is of 
more value than that of all the hunters in California, 
says it is a variety of the mule-deer, although having 
a black tail. Its usual gait when alarmed is a perfect 
ricochet, or bounce, all four feet being grouped close up 



A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 177 

as it rises and all striking the ground, not one after the 
other, but all at once, not with a touch as do the feet 
of the white-tailed or Virginia deer, but with a violent 
blow that sends the animal three or four feet in air in 
a twinkling. Though this is a tiresome gait, this deer 
will hold it with surprising speed for half a mile or 
even a mile or more. All ground is about alike to 
these deer, and either up or down hill, across gullies, 
over rocks, among boulders, through brush, or along 
steep hill-sides, they can accomplish a hundred per 
cent more of disappearance per second than any other 
animal that lives. 

Owing to the entire absence of persecution in the 
past and the comparatively small amount to which 
they are subjected now, these deer are mere block- 
heads compared with those of the Eastern woods, 
whose ancestors have been harried until wildness be- 
comes a second nature transmissible to progeny, and 
whose natural wildness thus acquired has, from the 
spotted baby-jacket upward, been kept at the finest 
point of cultivation by the incessant crack of the still- 
hunter's rifle. Nevertheless they are wild enough by 
nature to make some care necessary; they become 
wild surprisingly quick when hunted a little, and even 
with the tamest of them the most scientific hunting is 
the most profitable. I shall therefore adhere to my 
general plan and consider them as if all very wild. 

The table-land we shall try to-day is quite bare in 
places; in other places it is covered with a dark cedar- 
like brush from waist-high to as high as your head. 
Here and there run valleys from fifty to four hundred 
feet deep. Some are narrow at the bottom; others are 
two hundred yards or more in width. Some are half 
a mile long; others are several miles long. All of 



178 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

them have plenty of arms and branches. And the top 
of the table-land contains numerous little ravines 
and swales leading into these valleys, and numerous 
brushy basins and plateaus along their edges caused 
by washes and slides in years of excessive rain. 

The first question is, Where shall we walk, upon the 
high ground or in the valleys ? 

We shall have little trouble to decide this question 
to-day. For the table-land is in many places too bare 
to contain any deer. And this brush that you see is 
just dense enough to stop all the breeze yet admit most 
of the sun, so that at, this time of year — August, a 
month as good as any for still-hunting here — the deer 
will not remain in it during the day. The deer are 
now in the valleys and the brushy basins and ravines 
leading into them. But the greater number are 
doubtless in the main valleys or their large branches, 
as they are very little disturbed here. Moreover, this 
brush is so high and level that we could not see a 
deer in it unless it were jumping, and we should prob- 
ably see few in this way, as the greater number would 
simply skulk. 

Then how shall we hunt the valleys ? By walking 
in them or along the edge of the table-land ? 

If it were no later than eight o'clock I should say 
keep the edge of the mesa here. For this valley be- 
fore us is neither wide nor deep, and a hundred and 
fifty yards will be about the longest shot you would 
have to make. You can see everything in the valley 
so much better from the high ground that your chances 
there would have been best two hours ago. But we 
have come out too late to-day; the deer are now lying 
down in the valleys, and you cannot see them as they 
are in the shade. You might walk along the edge of 







H 



A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 179 

the high ground and pass half a dozen lying close in 
the dark green shade of the sumacs and fusicas in the 
valley, watching you all the time and knowing that 
you do not see them. Now if you go down the valley 
you will be far more apt to start them; for though 
they will occasionally lie concealed in scattered brush 
and let you pass near them, the prevailing rule is 
i'quite the other way, — provided you come close, say 
fifty or sixty yards. Though they will often lie in a 
bush and look at you at a hundred or a hundred and 
fifty yards away, they will seldom let you get as close 
as they often do in very thick brush. 

But even in this wild country there is such a vast 
number of acres to the deer and such exceedingly 
liberal measure given for an acre that it will not do 
to go rambling aimlessly about, trusting to fortune to 
start a deer. We will therefore go to a water-hole 
about half a mile down that valley and see if any deer 
watered there this morning, and, if so, which way they 
went when they left it. But as there is a chance of 
some deer being in this end of the valley, and as the 
wind blows up it from the sea, we will go down it just 
as carefully as if we knew some deer were in it. 

Winding down an old cattle-trail at its upper end 
we find ourselves in a little valley about a hundred 
yards wide at the widest points, about half filled with 
green bushes from four to eight or ten feet high, but 
containing plenty of open places, and a cattle-trail 
down the center that allows quiet and easy walking. 

Here, you see, are deer-tracks and "sign" already, 
but they are yesterday's. Here have been a big buck, 
a doe, two fawns, and a smaller buck yesterday. Now 
be careful, for they may be here again to-day. Here, 
you see, are signs of two or three days ago, showing 



180 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

that they have spent several days here. But that very 
fact shows that it is just as likely they are not here 
to-day, for deer seldom spend over two or three days 
in exactly the same place. If they have been here 
that long they are more apt to be in some other part 
of the valley, half a mile or a mile away, or perhaps 
in some adjoining valley. 

A few minutes' walk brings us to a branch of the 
main valley which winds out of sight among the hills, 
and like the main valley is well filled with bright green 
brush. And here in the main trail we find two tracks 
of this morning. 

They are either does or young bucks, by the track. 
As we did not see their tracks above here, it is very 
likely they turned off into this branch. Examination 
of the ground shows that they have gone into the side 
valley, and no tracks are visible coming out. 

Now, although it involves more work, we had better 
swing around to the head of the side valley and come 
down it; for the wind, you see, blows up it, and the 
most certain way is to go around. 

We soon climb the hill, and taking the table-land 
follow the course of the little valley, keeping out of 
sight, however, of the bottom of it; for there is no 
prospect of the game being on foot now, and it has 
twenty times the chance of seeing us that we have of 
seeing it, and if it does see us we should probably not 
get a fair shot. But here and there the highland that 
forms the edge breaks into a little short gulch or 
pocket, filled more or less with brush, and into these 
we cautiously peep as we wind around their heads. 
Here's one now that is more brushy than usual, and 
a deer might lie in it without seeing you. Generally 
it is not necessary to do more than merely show 



A DAY IN THE TABLELANDS. 181 

yourself over the edge, or give a snort or bleat like a 
deer, or even a low whistle. A middling loud " Phew !" 
or " Mah !" is the best, as it is more apt to make a deer 
get up and look instead of running at once. 

Five or six of these side gulches are passed without 
seeing anything, and we reach the head of the main 
valley. Now let us wind carefully round the head of 
it and see if they have gone out, for they may have 
been going to another valley. A careful inspection 
shows no tracks. The ground is hard and dry, but 
in most places a track could be seen. Moreover, they 
would have been almost sure to travel this well-beaten 
cattle-trail that leads directly out of the head of the 
valley. They are probably in the valley; and now look 
out sharp for tracks when we get into it, but keep a 
good watch ahead. Make an inspection of the ground 
at the mouth of every side gulch or valley on the side 
opposite the one we came up. 

About two hundred yards below the head of the 
valley your eye catches a slight scrape on the dry 
ground. You notice it only by its shade of color, 
but it is an unmistakable scrape. Just beyond it are 
two or three more, and in one of them the points of a 
hoof have raised a faint rim of dry dirt. And, see, 
they lead, too, right toward a side gulch of consider- 
able length which terminates some two hundred yards 
up in a pocket. Follow them a little further, so as to 
be sure they lead in there, and then back out and swing 
around over the hill to the head of it; for you see the 
wind draws in there too. The valley here is not over 
a hundred and fifty feet deep, so that climbing the 
hill is soon over, and in a few minutes you are peering 
over into the pocket. But all is still. You show a little 
more of your head and shoulders, but nothing moves. 



183 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

Do you see that thick clump of dark green sumac 
in the bottom ? Give a good " Phew !" 

Your " Phew!" is followed by an instant smash-crash, 
bump, bump, bump, and straight up the opposite side of 
the pocket go two airy creatures of yellowish brown, 
not running or even jumping, but mevely g/andng from 
the ground like sunbeams from a mirror. You made 
your " Phew !" too loud entirely, and you should have 
kept out of sight while you did it. 

Bang ! goes your repeater, and the dirt flies from 
the ground that one's feet have just left. Bang — 
wang — bang — slang — whang! it goes; the dirt flies in 
every direction around the glossy pelt, as with a reg- 
ular bump, bump, butnp, and all four feet grouped close 
together, they seem to merely skim the ground like 
birds. But faster than you can send the hissing lead 
they clear the hill-side, and with a faint bump, bump, 
bump, and a dissolving view of shining white but- 
tocks, they fade over its crest into the brush beyond. 

It is not quite so easy as it would appear to be to 
hit such vibratory beauty as that. They are a differ- 
ent institution from the deer you have heretofore 
seen, and are the hardest animal of their size to hit 
with the rifle when running. 

At the water-hole we find a few old-looking cattle- 
tracks in the edge and a few faint symptoms of old 
deer-tracks. But be not too hasty. Do you not see 
that all the ground for yards around has been run 
over by myriads of quails ? A dozen deer could have 
watered at that spring this morning, yet the ground 
might now show no sign of them. Let us circle 
around it fifty or a hundred yards or more away, ex- 
amining carefully the sides and bottom of this branch 
valley that leads in here from one side. This branch 



A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 183 

runs toward another valley nearly parallel with this. 
That one contains no water, and even if it did deer 
would be quite likely to travel from one to the 
other. In so traveling they are quite certain to go 
up a gulch or canon like this branch if it leads in that 
direction. 

There is a bright-looking spot of pretty fresh dirt 
along the water-course at the bottom of the gulch 
where something has broken down the dirt along its 
edge. It seems to have been done by a hoof, and 
done, too, this morning. A few yards farther on, 
plain as the stamp of a die upon lead, appears the 
track of a three-year-old buck, the smaller track of a 
two-year-old or a doe — we cannot tell which — and the 
track of a yearling or two. They are marching in 
Indian file right up the center of the gulch on one side 
of the dry sandy water-course in the center, occasion- 
ally crossing it, but generally keeping pretty close to it. 

Now you will notice there is little of the heavy 
bright green sumac or other shady bushes in this 
gulch. It is also narrow at the bottom, is exceed- 
ingly warm, and does not look very inviting as a 
place for deer to lie down in during the heat of the 
day. Moreover, deer when at all wild are not apt to 
lie down very near water, but go half a mile or a 
mile away. Therefore it is highly probable that they 
are not in this gulch at all. We can therefore climb 
up to the top and walk along the level ground to the 
head of this gulch feeling an almost positive assurance 
that we shall find the tracks of our deer emerging upon 
the table-land at the head of it. But on the way let 
us not forget that the deer delights in abusing the 
confidence of the hunter. Therefore, since it will 
be just as easy to take on our way an occasional 



184 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

peep over into the gulch, let us do so. If the deer 
are still on foot, as they may be, lounging slowly 
along, it being not yet very warm, we shall be quite 
apt to see them. And if we find no tracks coming 
out of the head of the gulch, we shall then know that 
they have been perverse enough to lie down in there. 
And we can then go down it with the wind in our 
faces, and start them in such a way as to get a pretty 
fair shot. 

We reach the head of the gulch, having seen nothing 
on the way, and there find no tracks. But wait. Do 
not start into the gulch too soon, on the assumption 
that the deer are lying in there. I did not tell you 
that the deer would emerge at the extreme point of it. 
There are three or four little ravines on each side, and 
some nice little ridges too, by which they could have 
walked out. Examine the ground for a hundred yards 
on each side, going back several yards into the brush; 
and look with great care, for all may not now be 
traveling together. 

On the other side, some fifty yards below the ex- 
treme point of the gulch, you find quite a trail lead- 
ing out of a little ravine. "Just like a sheep-trail " 
you will probably report it when you go home, giving 
an ignorant person to believe there were forty or fifty 
deer using it. But the whole has been done by these 
four deer. 

And now another question arises. Here are tracks 
running both ways and both look equally fresh. Have 
the deer come this way and returned, or have they 
gone that way first and returned this way? 

If there were no water in the question this might per- 
plex you a moment. But as the tracks are evidently 
made by the same deer whose tracks we saw at the 



A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 185 

mouth of the gulch, and as one set of tracks leads to- 
ward the water and the other set leads away from it, 
there can be little doubt which course is the most 
likely to be the one they last went. But to be sure 
follow the trail until you find where one has stepped 
in one of the earlier tracks. 

This last way is of course sure where you find such 
a place. But deer may return by the side of their told 
tracks. And several may even walk some distance in 
a trail without stepping on an old track at all, or, at 
all events, in a place where the dirt is soft enough to 
plainly show which is the upper track. In such case, 
if you think it worth while to follow the trail and 
know nothing about the watering or feeding places or 
anything else likely to determine the matter, observe 
the following rules: 

ist. The tracks leading toward the highest ground 
are likely to be the freshest. 

2d. So are the tracks that wander and straggle the 
most from the main trail. 

3d. So are the tracks leading toward the most brushy 
ground if the others lead toward pretty open ground. 

4th. So are the tracks leading away from where 
there is the most travel, noise, or disturbance to a 
place more quiet and retired. 

In nearly all such cases the first set of tracks is 
made in the night or early in the morning, and the 
other is the returning track. If you can apply none 
of these rules, then take the track that gives you the 
wind in your face. And if there is no wind, take the 
sun on your back. 

At all events, we will follow here the trail that goes 
away from water. And we may follow it quite fast 
for some distance; for yonder in its direction are the 



186 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

headlands of another valley; in this dark thin brush 
through which the trail now leads there is little pros- 
pect of the deer stopping at this time of day; besides, 
it is plain they are making for yonder valley, and if so 
they will not be apt to stop at all in this stuff. 

A quarter of a mile or more the trail leads over the 
hard dry ground of the table-land, winding through 
the most open places of the brush, showing that the 
deer loves good open walking for traveling purposes 
as well as he does the thickest brush for hiding; and 
this although the thickest brush is no obstacle to him 
when he is a hurry. The trail is in places almost 
invisible, but you can still keep its general course. 
The bare hard pavement-like stony concrete shows a 
broad line, of a trifle more bareness, if possible; the 
little fine hard mossy substance that covers much of 
the ground shows a broad line a trifle grayer than the 
rest; and where streaks of softer ground are occasion- 
ally wet a light scrape or rim of fine dust raised by a 
sharp-edged hoof meets the eye. 

The head of the other valley is reached, and the 
trail descends into that. This valley is at least three 
hundred yards wide from edge to edge; the deer are 
doubtless lying down; the wind blows up the valley; 
there is no room for doubt as to the best place to 
walk. 

Down into the valley you go, and find the trail wind- 
ing into another old cattle-trail that leads down the 
valley. For a quarter of a mile the deer have kept the 
cattle-trail; the tracking has been easy; your nerves 
have been on a constant strain. But now comes the tug 
of war. The deer are leaving the cattle-trail. First 
one of them wanders off to one side. Then another 
leaves it; a few yards more one straggles off on the 



A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 187 

Other side. Then that one crosses over the trail, and 
the last one also leaves it. And now you realize that 
the decisive hour has arrived. 

Probably it has arrived. Possibly it has not. 
Those deer may in that way wander on for quarter 
of a mile yet. But still you must prepare to see them 
at any moment. 

And now what is the most important thing to 
attend to? Obviously to be in the best position to 
shoot. Out then from behind those thick bushes where 
you can see nothing. Get on the side toward the sun, 
so that you will be more likely to get a shot the other 
way instead of having it flash into your eyes and 
along your rifle-sight as the deer run up hill per- 
haps directly toward it. Get on the rising ground 
along the edge of the hill where you can see some- 
thing. 

Not an instant too soon are you. For as you reach 
the rising ground and show your head and shoulders 
a yard or two higher there is a sudden hollow-toned 
"Phew!" a smash and crash of brush,a' k-bump-buntp- 
bump-butnp of hoofs on the hard ground, and about 
fifty yards ahead you see two shining curves of brown 
capped by white undulating through the brush. 

Bang ! goes your rifle, and the bullet hisses clear 
over one of the curves and, glancing from the ground 
beyond, goes whizzing away on high. Almost as 
quickly the curves disappear behind some bush; you 
catch sight at the same time of two other deer with 
heads down disappearing on a trot in a brushy gulch 
on the other side of the valley; the first two reap- 
pear with an occasional whirl of glossy brown above 
the brush down the valley, while your bullets whiz 
spitefully far above them. 



188 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

You have already learned the folly of going after a 
deer when once started. This rule generally, though 
not always, holds good with these deer. But that 
place where those two disappeared on a trot looks 
like a pocket or basin containing thick brush. Those 
two that went in there acted as if they would skulk if 
they had a good opportunity. Just for curiosity fol- 
low them in there; and do so as fast as you can go. 

Arriving there you find it a sort of deep pocket 
with steep brushy sides about seventy-five yards across, 
well filled in the bottom with brush five or six feet 
high such as we saw on the level ground above, but 
much denser. 

You see no motion or anything that looks like a 
deer, and hear no sound. You snort like a deer, bleat 
like a deer, whistle, clap your hands, and finally yell. 
But nothing moves. A liberal shower of stones into 
different parts of the bush is equally futile. But from 
the way these two ran off and the fact that you got 
here so quickly without seeing them go out it is pro- 
bable that they are standing hidden within fifty yards 
of you, or else are sneaking out through the heaviest 
brush that runs through the centre. Take that old 
trail that winds up one side of the basin and go up 
until you can see down into the brush. 

You follow the trail all the way to the top of the 
basin, and then walk all the way around it on the edge 
of the high ground. And still you see and hear 
nothing. But be not too hasty to decide that there is 
nothing there. If they went out so quickly that you 
could not see them after running here so fast, then it 
is certain that they went out on a fast gait, either a 
run or a trot. In either case the tracks will show 
plainly anywhere along the edge of the level ground. 



A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 189 

Go then around the edge and look for tracks. If you 
find none, then you know the deer are hiding in that 
brush. In such case you have an excellent opportunity 
to try one of the surest ways to outgeneral the skulk- 
ing deer — to get on a commanding point of view and 
sit him out. He cannot stand it a great while. When 
all is quiet for half an hour or so — often a much less time 
will suffice — the skulking deer gets uneasy. He must 
move a little. And when you are well above him you 
can then hardly fail to see him. 

But I did not tell you to lose sight of the brush while 
looking for those tracks. Can you not watch both at 
once? You must have more ubiquitous eyes than you 
now exhibit if you expect much success as a still- 
hunter. Look down there where that little cut at the 
bottom of the basin branches off from the main gully 
at the bottom. Do you not see there a yellowish 
tinge of something in the brush? Explore it at once 
with a bullet. Why do you hesitate? It cannot be a 
man or any domestic animal. The loss of a bullet is 
nothing. The noise will probably not start the skulk- 
ers; and even if it should, what could you wish that 
would be better? 

And now it is gone. So it was a deer after all. 
And the fear of losing a bullet has cost you a deer. 

But run quickly to that point that juts out into the 
basin near its mouth and shoot at the first brown, 
yellow, white, or gray spot that moves in the brush. 

You get there and look long and keenly, but see 
nothing. Despair begins to settle upon you, when 
suddenly you catch sight of a small white spot with a 
small point of black in the center just disappearing in 
the bush over the other edge of the basin where you 
were a few moments ago. It must have slipped up 



190 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

that ravine yonder where the brush appears scarce four 
feet high. And yet you saw it not. A second or two 
more and you would not have seen it at all. And 
even now you see no head, no legs, no body; only a 
small target, and that fast fading in the brush upon 
the level ground. 

How brightly gleams the sun upon the front sight 
of your rifle as it comes up! And what a thrill of 
satisfaction you feel as you see it glimmer in bright 
relief full upon the center of the fading white! You 
pull the trigger, but no sound of striking bullet comes 
back. You go and look, but there is no sign of stum- 
bling, plunging, or jumping. The deer has evidently 
walked on quite unconcerned. 

You shot toward the sun; that is all. You must be 
careful how you see your front sight too plainly when 
the sun is directly in your eyes; a point we will con- 
sider again. 

But what about the other one ? Did it go off with 
this one ? 

Perhaps it did. Examine the track and see. 

You follow the track a few yards in the course it 
has taken, but observe no sign of more than one deer. 
Turning backward toward the basin, you catch sight 
of a deer some two hundred yards away gayly bound- 
ing up the main valley near where you first started 
the four. 

'You naturally wonder if that could not possibly be 
the other deer that was hiding. But you might better 
wonder if it could possibly be any other one, so close 
to where you first started them, and in full bound too, 
I did not tell you to lose sight of the basin while look- 
ing for the other one's track. You could have found 
it just as well by looking down the side of the basin 





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A DAY IN THE TABLE-LANDS. 191 

as by following it away into the brush where you 
could not see what was going on in the basin. There 
is no use of sitting down now. There is no proba- 
bility that there is anything left to sit out. But as it 
lies in your way back and will cost you neither time 
nor trouble, you may look at the mouth of the pocket. 
Ten to one, you will now find the tracks of a deer run- 
ning out of it. In the future be careful how you trifle 
with the skulking- deer. 



192 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 

The ground now breaks into a range of hills which 
in the Eastern States would be called "mountains." 
There are three or four peaks twelve hundred to fif- 
teen hundred feet high from which the land descends 
in smaller hills and slopes for three quarters of a mile 
or so, forming numerous gulches, little ravines, basins, 
and a few small plateaus. Scarcely a single tree is in 
sight, but all the side of the hills is more or less cov- 
ered with brush. This brush is in most places not 
over waist-high, and is quite thin enough for com- 
fortable walking. But in some places, as in and 
around the heads of ravines, the brush is denser and 
often higher than one's head. Many of the basins 
and plateaus, as well as some of the lower ridges, 
are more or less covered with large clumps of scat- 
tered bushes, luxuriant and green. On the whole, it 
is excellent-looking ground for deer to live on, for 
the hunter to get sight of them and to get a shot at 
them. 

There appears, however, one difficulty; and as it is 
one we shall frequently meet on open ground, espe- 
cially in all those States and Territories where there 
is no rain during a large part of the summer or 
autumn, we will consider it now. 

Although the brush is in most places thin enough 



ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 193 

for comfortable walking, yet it is too thick to walk 
through without touching it. Much of it is dry and 
brittle, and cracks and snaps at the least touch. The 
ground, too, is more or less carpeted with sun- 
dried grass and flowers of various kinds that crackle 
under the lightest tread of the softest moccasins. 
With the utmost care you can use you still make such 
a noise that in the woods where we began hunting 
you would see not a tail the live-long day. 

It would in-deed be useless to hunt such noisy 
ground as this in the woods. The best still-hunters 
of the Eastern woods will almost invariably refuse to 
hunt when, as they say, "the woods are too noisy." 
We have already seen one reason why your noise is 
not so apt tD alarm deer on open ground — the greater 
distances, more wind, and the absence of trees. But 
beyond all these it is evident that these deer do not 
start from noise as quickly as timber-deer do. That 
is, all do not. If they did, it would be impossible to 
get many close shots on such open ground as is 
brushy enough to contain many deer. The hunter 
soon finds this out, and hence is apt to conclude that 
since he cannot go quietl}^ anyhow, and as the deer 
do not mind noise, there is no use in trying to walk 
quietly. Once in a while we meet a man foolish 
enough to think that the more noise he makes the 
better, as if the deer needed flushing like quail. 

All this proceeds from hasty reasoning from care- 
lessly gathered premises. While it is true that many 
of the deer do not run from a noise that would send a 
timber-deer flying before you got sight of him at all 
— and here I refer not to the skulkers, but to those 
that intend to run but wait a while to see what makes 
the noise — it is equally true that many others do run 



194 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

at the slightest snap of a twig, just as the timber-deer 
does. 

The proper way to hunt here is to avoid noise as 
much as you can by selecting trails, easing off brush 
with your hands, going around it, crawling through it, 
etc., but never to assume that there is nothing just 
ahead of you because you have just had to make a 
noise in tearing through some brush that you could 
not get around. In short, make no noise; but if you 
must make some, do not be concerned about it, but 
go on the same as if you had made none at all. 

And now another question perplexes you; viz., how 
high up the side of this range of hills to walk? 

A common mistake in hunting such ground is going 
too high up. Although you will find some tracks and 
droppings nearly up to the top of those peaks, yet the 
deer are rarely there in the daytime. Most of those 
tracks are made by deer crossing the top to the other 
side, but in no particular haste about getting over. 
It will rarely be worth while to hunt there, and it is 
also too far away to command a view of the lower 
slopes and foot-hills. This applies, however, only to 
such ranges as are narrow at the top. If they are 
broad-topped and contain plateaus, basins, etc., on 
the top, then the top may be the best place. 

If deer are not at all disturbed, the lowest foot-hills 
and ravines of such hills as these will contain about 
as many deer as any part of them. But if disturbed 
by hunters, herdsmen, or sheep, etc., they will go 
higher. As a rule, the middle tier of the hills is the 
best to hunt; as it is not only apt to contain as many 
deer as any part, but commands a good view of the 
vpper and lower slopes and ravines. 

But what means that motion in yonder bush, in 



ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 195 

that little basin about three hundred yards away and 
a hundred feet or so lower than we are? There is yet 
no wind to cause it so to move, and a bird could 
hardly give it such a jerking motion. A deer nipping 
twigs from it could, however, give it just such a mo- 
tion. Move gently over to this side of that next 
ridge and follow it out to its point. From there you 
can almost see the other side of the bush. Take an 
occasional look over the ridge as you go, but be very 
careful how you do it. 

Reaching the point, you discover on the farther 
side of the bush a little spot of white set in a slight 
framework of brown, with something like the taper 
of a brownish-gray leg just below it. In the cen- 
ter of the white is a stubby little black and white 
tail that gives a highly complacent wiggle. Very 
much the same kind of a target as that you shot at 
on our last hunt. 

Sit down and keep cool a moment. Then take an 
inspection of the ground and decide upon the best 
means to get nearer to the deer. It suspects nothing 
as yet, and is not going to run. At this time of day 
— about sunrise — it will probably stay there several 
minutes. At all events, your chances of getting within 
a hundred yards of it are greater than your chances 
of making a killing shot from here ; for both the 
ground and wind are favorable for a close approach. 
On such ground as this you must make a mortal shot 
and not break a leg or lightly cripple such game. 
Once wounded, a few seconds will carry it into that 
dense dark chapparal you see beyond there so heavily 
robing the mountain's breast and shoulders. And once 
there it is forever lost to you unless you have a very 



196 • THE STILL-HUNTER. 

good dog; and even if you have a dog you may still 
lose the deer or have a heavy task to get it out. 

Do you not see a cattle-trail winding up the side of 
the next ravine ? It leads direcily to that little basin 
in which the deer is. Go down this point out of 
sight, take that trail, on which you can walk quietly, 
and follow it to the edge of the basin. 

You soon reach the trail, and behold! there are 
tracks in it of four or five deer going both ways. 
Lose no time, though, in examining them. They are 
all about equally fresh; there is undoubtedly water in 
that deep gulch far below; the deer you just saw is 
undoubtedly one of those that made these tracks; 
that is the up-hill direction, too; you know the rest. 

You speedily conclude that they have been going to 
water, and that the return trail is the freshest. So 
going swiftly and silently along the trail you reach 
the edge of the basin. Peering cautiously over the 
edge you see nothing. You take a step or two forward, 
and suddenly from half a dozen different directions 
comes a medley of crashing brush and bump, biimp, 
bump, bump of hoofs. A few brown hides glimmer for 
a moment above the brush in glossy curves sur- 
mounted by white rumps, and vanish amid a storm 
of random shots from your repeater. 

The same old mistake you made so often in the 
woods. How often must I warn you about showing 
yourself too quickly; about thinking you can see 
everything because the brush is not very heavy; 
against deciding too hastily that there is nothing in 
sight. There were five deer there; you saw only one 
of them at first; yet all the rest were there browsing 
also; and yet you see the brush is neither thick nor 
high. Suppose now you had stood back for a few 




You should keep your ears open as well as your eyes. This 
man would not have seen the deer, because going to the right ; 
but he heard the faint cracking of brush up the hill. 



ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 197 

moments with none of your head in sight lower than 
your eyes. You could not only have seen anything if 
it should try to leave the basin, but would undoubt- 
edly have seen in a minute or two more the deer that 
you saw first. It had only turned a little so as to 
conceal the white of its buttocks and cast a different 
shade of color from its side. And you might easily 
have seen that big buck that stood by a bush a few 
yards farther on. Remember now that deer are just 
about as hard to see in such a place as they are in the 
woods, and do not throw away another such oppor- 
tunity just by a trifle too much haste to get a better 
view. 

And now we must seek another deer or set of deer. 
For it would be quite useless to follow these into that 
chapparal whither they have gone so rapidly bound- 
ing. Remember that even here, where there is neither 
house nor ranch in sight, though you can see many a 
mile around, deer are not found in every bush. In this 
whole range of hills, some three miles long, there are 
probably not over twenty. But that is enough to 
make fair sport if you are careful and know how to 
manage them. Move along, but keep as near this 
elevation as you can. Stop at every good point of 
observation and after making a thorough search with 
the naked eye, especially of the ground near to you, 
take your glass and sweep carefully the lower, higher, 
and farther ground. 

Nearly half a mile beyond where we saw the last 
deer is a comfortable rock on a high point command- 
ing an extensive view of slopes, ridges, ravines, etc. 
Let us take a seat and spend ten or fifteen minutes. 
Yes; call it laziness if you choose, we will not dispute 
about terms; but we will nevertheless sit. Now search 



198 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

all the hill-sides, slopes, etc., in sight. Give first a 
general look over the whole with your naked eye; 
then run over it in detail with the glass. Look espe- 
cially in the brush of sunny hill-sides; look around all 
scattering bushes; look in the bottoms of all ravines, 
etc.; look on the tops of all ridges. Look as if you 
were looking not for deer but for hares, for rabbits, for 
rats, even for mice. 

Five hundred yards away, and some three hundred 
feet lower than where you are, you notice a small spot 
of shiny gray in some bushes. Watch it closely. It 
may be the sun on a deer's coat, for some of the deer 
are already laying aside the yellowish-brown coat of 
summer and putting on the gray of autumn. 

Ah ha! It moves a little. And now ahead comes up 
from behind a bush and takes a long and careful look: 
and the sun glistens on some polished horns upon the 
head of a four-year old buck. 

Now remember, there is positively no haste, for he 
does not suspect anything. Show nothing below your 
head; keep that still; and wait long enough to find out 
what he intends doing. 

He takes a few steps; nibbles a few leaves from a 
bush; then stands a minute or two and wiggles his 
tail. He then scratches his head with one hind foot; 
takes another nibble from a bush; and then stands 
still a moment. 

Wait just a moment more before deciding what to 
do. If he is going to remain there, there is no im- 
mediate haste. You may be quite certain he will 
not descend any lower at this time of day, for it is 
nearly eight o'clock. And it is highly probable that 
he intends coming higher up, for there is hardly cover 



ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 199 

enough where he is to make a good lying-place for as 
warm a day as to-day will be. 

And now he starts. Slowly indeed, but, do you see? 
upon a long stride, a sort of a stalk of extreme digni- 
ty. And now he takes the side of the ravine upon 
something looking like a trail. 

Now is your time for expedition. Out of here by 
the back way in a twinkling. For do you not see that 
that ravine runs up to yonder little brushy plateau? 
He is undoubtedly going there, and will keep the side 
of the ravine he is on or go up and take the ridge. 
You must get to the head of the ravine before he does; 
and keep out of sight while doing it. 

Backing out of your present position, you slip along 
the rear side of the ridge you are on and run along it 
to where it joins the main body of the mountain. And 
there, thanks to the old Spanish cattle, is a good trail 
winding directly toward the plateau toward which 
the buck is going. With head low down and body 
bent so as to keep below the brush, you reach the pla- 
teau with a short run. Then slowly raising your head 
you take a look for your game, and in a moment you 
see it moving deliberately up the side of the ridge 
some two hundred yards away. 

No, no. Do not shoot. A deer walking at that dis- 
tance, especially on a course both rising and slanting, 
is entirely too hard a shot for even an old hand to 
take unless compelled to. Do not even move until 
you see whether he crosses the ridge, takes the top of 
it, or keeps on the side he still is on. In any of these 
events your prospects of a pretty fair shot are far 
stronger than the probabilities of hitting the deer 
where it now is. 

And now see! the deer is going over the ridge. 



200 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

But stop! Do not move an inch until he is out of 
sight. There he disappears. Now be quick but quiet 
and get on the neck of that ridge he went over just 
where it joins the main body of the hills. 

You reach the neck of the ridge, and dropping be- 
hind a large rock take off your hat and peep cautious- 
ly over the rock. And soon you see on your side of 
the ravine a long low bit of yellowish brown moving 
through the brush some seventy yards away, with the 
tips of a pair of horns occasionally surging through 
the brush in front of it. The brown is moving toward 
you too, and will pass you some thirty yards down 
your side of the ridge and near the bottom of the 
ravine. And you softly ejaculate " Mine." 

But beware, dear friend, how you too quickly say 
" Mine." You know not whether a deer is yours un- 
til you stand astride of it with your knife. And — 
and — be a — little — cautious even then; for sometimes 
when the point of the knife has pricked the skin of a 
fallen deer, hunter, rifle, knife, and deer have radiated 
to the four points of the compass almost as suddenly 
as if a keg of powder had exploded in their midst. 

And now where is your bit of brown? You took 
your eyes from it to look at the place where you in- 
tended to bag it, and when your eyes would return to 
it, behold! it is gone. Yet none of that brush is over 
four feet high and not at all thick. 

Now do not get excited, worried, or anxious; for if 
you do you will yield to hurry and flurry, and then it 
will be a running shot or none. The buck is still 
there; he probably suspects not your presence; he 
cannot get out of the ravine without your seeing him; 
and if you have patience you may still get a good 
standing shot. 



ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 301 

You wait a few seconds and they seem a few min- 
utes; a few minutes and they seem long hours. 
Surely he has slipped away unseen, you think; that 
rock would give a so much better view; he may be 
getting away; no time is to be lost. So Haste reasons 
with you; and though Patience commands you in 
thunder-tones to keep still, you will listen to Haste. 
You put your foot upon the rock and are just raising 
yourself upon it, when a sudden crash of brush comes 
from near the place where you last saw the bit of 
brown. It is followed at once by the well-known 
biwip, bump, bump, and from the bottom of the ravine 
away goes the buck bouncing on steely legs up the 
opposite side. He looks now as large as a yearling 
calf, as with high bounding springs he surges above 
the brush, with the morning sun glinting on every 
tine and shining from nearly every hair. Little he 
cares for the rapid fire of your repeater. He surges 
away as if it were only play, leaving your bullets all 
above him as he goes curving downward from the 
climax of his lofty bound. 

He reaches the top of the ridge, stops, wheels half 
around, and turns his great mulish ears and dark blue 
eyes full upon you. There again is your artist-deer 
at last, standing full broadside, bulging with fatness, 
looming now as large and lustrous as he was before 
small and dim, as graceful and majestic as he was be- 
fore ugly and insignificant — and only fifty yards away! 

Aim at the very lowest point where the shoulder 
joins the body; and take a fine sight at that or you 
will still overshoot him. A tremor runs through all 
your nerves; the front sight of the rifle wavers all 
over the target; with a convulsive jerk you pull the 
trigger. The rifle cracks, and as the smoke clears 



202 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

away, the top of the ridge reveals no trace of your 
buck. 

Did he fall in his tracks? you naturally wonder. 

Suppose he did. Will he not stay there a few min- 
utes? Suppose he did not. May you not get another 
shot before he can cross or get out of the next ravine? 
Do you not see that with a quick run you can reach 
the neck of the ridge he was on and may see him if 
he runs up or across the next ravine, as he probably 
will do? Why stand here an instant speculating upon 
the probable result of your shot? 

You reach the neck of the next ridge quite out of 
breath and just in time to discover — nothing. But 
be not too hasty to utilize your discovery. For he 
may be hiding in the brush. Walk on down to where 
he stood when you fired and see what has happened. 
But be not too hasty to get there, and keep a good 
watch in the brush below while going. 

And now hark! a faint crack of brush; then a crash; 
then another smash of brush, and the old bit of brown 
is plunging through the brush below. But it is a la- 
boring, stumbling gait, without any of the bump, bump 
of hoofs plied by elastic legs. 

Bang ! bang ! bang ! goes your rifle again, and still 
the brown goes on. Stop. Save your cartridges. 
He is wounded, and if you empty your rifle-magazine 
he may get out of this ravine before you can load 
again. It is evident that you are now too excited to 
hit anything; and therefore you had better take a few 
moments' time to cool down. And in the mean while 
fill up the magazine of your rifle, for you may need all 
the shots it will hold. 

Now make a quick run and get on that large rock 
that juts out some twenty yards below you. And 



ANOTHER KIND OF OPEN GROUND. 203 

don't you leave that rock until you see that deer again, 
even if you have to sit there some time. If he slips out 
of the ravine unseen — which he cannot do if you keep 
a good watch from that rock — you can track him just 
as well in four hours as you can now, and you 
would then have much better chances of finding him 
dead or lying down and so very sick that he would 
not rise until you got almost upon him. 

As you jump upon the rock there is, however, an- 
other crash of brush only twenty yards below; the 
brown again shows itself for a moment; and it sinks 
at the first crack of your rifle. 

On going down to your deer your satisfaction is 
somewhat marred by finding that your first ball 
struck the deer high up in the haunch, some two and 
a half feet from where you aimed. 



204 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE still-hunter's CARDINAL VIRTUE. 

Space forbids the much further continuance of this 
realistic style of teaching the ways of the woods and 
hills, as it involves the repetition of too much that is 
already become familiar from former chapters. There 
is still another kind of open ground that must be con- 
sidered, and I shall use it mainly as a text for a ser- 
mon upon the greatest of all virtues in still-hunting, 
viz. Patience. 

The frequent necessity of Patience you have already 
seen. But you have not yet had an opportunity to 
fully realize its indispensable character in very many 
cases. There arise many perplexing questions in still- 
hunting the only key to the solution of which is Pa- 
tience. It is true that these arise mainly in open 
ground, more especially open ground of the kind we 
are about to consider. But there are times in the 
woods and on all kinds of ground when it is quite 
as essential. 

We are now in a broad open country with few or no 
hills beyond mere swells. In general appearance it is 
very much like heavily rolling prairie. But instead of 
the sloughs filled with long grass so abundant on 
some rolling prairies, you see here and there long 
strips of a deep dark green from quarter of a mile to 
several miles in length, running generally through 
the lower portions, but sometimes seaming with a 



THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 205 

verdant scar the very topmost face of quite level 
ground. These are gullies or barraficas, generally so 
steep-sided and deep that it is often no trifle to cross 
one on foot. The greater part of them have numer- 
ous arms or side gullies running in on each side every 
hundred or two hundred yards, varying in length 
from fifty yards upward. And some of these termi- 
nate in pockets or basins, but are generally both deep 
and steep-sided. These gullies are mostly filled with 
evergreen brush from six to twelve feet high. Some- 
times one of these gullies rises to the dignity of a 
small cafion or valley with water in it, perhaps, and a 
small line of timber at the lower end. An occasional 
small tree appears at long intervals scattered over the 
whole, but from anything that can be called woods or 
timber we are miles and miles away. The ridges and 
slopes between these barrancas are more or less cov- 
ered with grass, weeds, some variety of sage or 
chemisal or low light brush, the body of which is 
little over knee-high, though, as in prairie, the flower- 
stalks may rise much higher. Occasional green bushes 
are scattered over the whole. This kind of ground 
in types more or less varied is found in Southern 
California, Lower California, and the Spanish-Ameri- 
can States and Territories generally. Often the gul- 
lies are so sloping at the sides that they are more 
properly swales than gullies, and sometimes they all 
contain a few trees or occasional groves of trees. 
Though it generally goes under the general term of 
viesa, or table-land, it is often the nearest approach to 
prairie to be found West of the Rocky Mountains, the 
gullies having been so deeply cut by cloud-bursts and 
heavy rains. 

Though few would suspect it at first glance, such 



206 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

ground is almost certain to contain game: ant^ope 
if not too brushy and if wide enough in extent; deer 
if the gullies are plenty enough and brushy enough. 
Such ground is often easily traversed with a wagon, 
and can always be hunted on horseback, there being 
always some places where a horse can cross the gul- 
lies. There is little ground more pleasant or easy to 
hunt on foot for one who can endure a long walk, and 
still less ground upon which success may be so easily 
had from so small an average of deer to the square 
mile. The general principles requisite for success on 
such ground are about the same as those to be ap- 
plied in hunting prairie of any kind; about the only 
difference being in the jumping of deer from the gul- 
lies. 

The high ground is here the best to keep on during 
the times when the deer are on foot. We will there- 
fore take this long ridge that commands a view of 
two gullies with their adjacent slopes of several hun- 
dred yards each. But while inspecting these slopes 
do not neglect the top of the ridge ahead of you, and 
pay strict attention to the edges of every gully and 
every clump of brush. For while the deer generally lie 
in the gullies by day and get a large part of their food 
from the bushes they contain, yet in the morning and 
at evening they are more apt to be a few yards from 
the edge, or up the slopes around some bush, or on 
the tops of the long ridges. And sometimes in hot 
weather, and generally in cold weather, they will lie 
during the day in the occasional bushes found over 
the slopes or on the ridges. And in very cold weather 
they will generally lie out in the low open brush in 
the sun. 

This morning we will take this particular ridge be- 




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THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 207 

cause it leads on a course of good walking and hunt- 
ing for two miles or so, with the rising sun on our 
backs instead of in our faces as we should be obliged 
to have it if we took advantage of the wind. But 
the prospects of a deer's being ahead of us on the 
ridge at all, or, if so, of being near enough to smell us 
before we could see him on ground so open and with 
the sun shining on him, are so slight that we will let 
the wind go and take the advantage of the sun instead. 

The extreme care necessary to get first sight of 
a deer in general is here even more important, if 
possible, than elsewhere. For upon such ground 
the deer has every advantage of a wide sweep of 
vision that you have. Moreover, even in this low 
open brush that does not reach your waist, and 
through which the walking is so easy, deer standing 
still will be almost impossible for you to see at any 
considerable distance, especially when in the gray 
coat — as we will suppose them now to be — unless you 
can get well above them or have a sky-background, 
as when a deer is standing on a ridge, or unless the 
sun makes his back shine. And when you recollect 
that deer are rarely so numerous upon such ground 
as in timber, you will see that the importance of 
seeing one before he sees you is here far greater; 
especially as on this kind of ground you can rarely 
get a shot by a sudden dash to some point or ridge, 
the distances to be run being entirely too long. 

On such ground you can scarcely look too far; 
though the ground for fifty yards around you must 
not be neglected. You can scarcely have too strong 
a glass or use it too thoroughly; though you should 
not use it until you have first given a careful and ex- 
tensive sweep with the naked eye. 



208 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

There is scarcely a shade of color from light brown 
to almost black, not a bit of sheen or a glistening 
point of any kind on such ground that may not be 
part of a deer. White spots must also be examined, 
as the buttocks and legs inside have some white. 
And if there are antelope on the range, everything 
from pure white to brown and dark gray must be in- 
spected; as the head of an antelope lying down will 
often be a dark spot on the landscape. 

We will suppose that you see a deer at last. It is 
nearly a third of a mile away, but you discover it with 
your glass browsing from a little bush near the top of 
another ridge. You decide at once that it is a hope- 
lessly long shot, and that your only hope of a close 
shot is a detour of half a mile or so to the other side 
of the crest of the ridge above the deer. 

This detour you quickly make; but on peeping 
carefully over you see no deer. But you do see about 
two dozen small bushes, and each one of them maybe 
the bush by which you saw the deer, and it may be 
behind any one of them. Here arises your first 
trouble from want of patience. You were so anxious 
to get a shot that you did not have patience to mark 
the exact bush at which you saw the deer. You did 
not even notice that there were any other bushes 
there. You merely saw a hill-side and a deer and 
started off. 

You look at every bush; they all look small and 
low; you see no deer at any of them; and you con- 
clude that the deer moved off while you were coming 
around. You take a few steps and come up on the 
ridge for a better view. And you get it at once. But 
it is a rapidly dissolving view of a low-scudding spike- 
buck, so low that he does not even appear above the 



THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 209 

low Stalks of the white sage. In a moment he dis- 
appears without regarding the noise of your rifle. 

The buck started from behind the very bush at 
which you first saw him. Five or ten minutes' pa- 
tient waiting would have given him time to move 
around the bush, to shake its top leaves by browsing 
or to move to another bush. And if you had had pa- 
tience to back out and go along the ridge some three 
hundred yards either way, you might have located 
him precisely, and might then have returned and 
waited behind the ridge for him to move out in sight. 

In this way a large number of shots are lost even 
by hunters who kill a great deal of game. Too hasty 
marking of a deer's location, too hasty assumption 
that the deer has moved away because it cannot at 
once be seen when the detour is completed, are two 
of the most irretrievable mistakes that any one but an 
excellent shot at running game can make in hunting 
open ground. And even in the woods it is often 
made, though of course not so often as in open 
ground, as deer are never seen so far away in the 
woods as they generally are in the open. 

Well, there is another one, and you raise your rifle at 
once. 

Beware! beware! It is indeed only two hundred 
yards away. But that is a long, long shot for even 
the best of shots to make at a deer standing breast 
toward you with more than half his body hidden in 
that gray sage. You will find that mark extremely 
dim when seen through the sights of a rifle. Let me 
tell you right here to beware always how you shoot 
with the rifle at a mark when bedimmed or nearly ob- 
scured by brush. Never do it far off if you have any 
fair prospects of getting closer. Never do it even 



210 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

tolerably close by unless necessary. If you doubt me, 
try a few shots at the heads of rabbits at only fifteen 
paces when they are in grass or brush where you can 
see only the tips of the ears and fancy you see the 
dim outline of the head below them. 

Consider, too, that this deer is headed this way; 
that it shows no sign of alarm; that there is no gully 
between in which it may go and get out of sight; that 
it is headed up hill too; and that there is probably 
water in that deep ravine beyond where the trees are 
so green. Reading these facts in the light of your 
already acquired knowledge, do you not see a strong 
probability that that deer is lounging away from 
water to high ground and will come your way ? But 
suppose he does not come your way. Suppose he 
moves away. Can you not see where he goes, follow 
him up, and see him again and get as good a shot as 
you now have? For, remember, he is not alarmed; and 
whether he goes into a gully, into a bush, or over a 
ridge, he will go slowly and not be looking much be- 
hind; for these deer know nothing of watching back 
until after being started. 

The deer stands and stands and stands. And you 
stand a few minutes and get impatient. The deer's 
persistence in standing, instead of teaching you that 
there is little danger of his going far in any direction 
now, — it being nearly time for deer to lie down, — only 
destroys the little patience you have. You fire, and 
when the smoke clears there is nothing in sight. 

Let us suppose it is now the middle of the after- 
noon. At a distance you see an enormous buck rise 
up beside a bush, stand a few minutes, nibble a few 
leaves and lie down again on the shady side of the 
bush, only changing his bed to get out of the sun as 



THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 211 

it moves around the bush. You make a detour and 
get behind a little rise of ground some eighty or 
a hundred yards away. Looking cautiously over you 
see just the tip of a horn shining through the weeds. 
You draw up your rifle-sight about eighteen inches 
below the horn and fire. 

A combination of pirouette, hornpipe, and double 
shuffle takes place for an instant by the bush, and 
then just as you think the deer is about to fall he 
straightens himself out and scuds away in line with 
the bush. Your ball glanced the base of his horn 
and stunned him — a much better shot than there was 
any prospect of your making. And if you had crept 
up behind the bush he would probably have run 
straight away from it and have left it directly in your 
line of vision. 

And now let us see what patience could have ac- 
complished. The wind was blowing from him to you 
and he could not smell you. He had not seen or 
heard you, and you could have remained both quiet 
and unseen behind that little rise until he rose again. 
As it is the middle of the afternoon and the day is 
not very hot, he would probably have risen in less 
than an hour. And he would then have been in no 
hurry to go, and would have been as likely to come 
your way as to go any other. And suppose you had 
waited until sundown. Would not the game be worth 
so cheap a candle ? 

But we must hasten along and suppose our cases 
fast. You have been tracking some deer and track 
them to a huddle of gullies, basins, etc., all filled with 
brush. You fail to see one or jump any of them out 
of it. You make a circle around and find no tracks 
leading out. Failing to start anything from the edge 



312 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

you go in and thrash around inside for a few minutes. 
When tired and perspiring you come out, and about 
the first thing you find is a series of long jumps on 
ground you passed directly over when you made your 
circuit. They were skulking and slipped out of one 
side while you were tearing around in brush so high 
and thick that you could not have hit one if you had 
seen a dozen deer running. 

Now only a hundred yards away is a knoll that com- 
mands a view of the whole of this place. And after you 
felt quite certain they were there, and when you know 
the trick of skulking as well as you do, why in the 
world could you not go there and sit them out 7 Want 
of patience. That is all. 

This sitting out a deer and other forms of patience 
will suggest themselves in many other cases, such as 
where a fresh trail of several deer divides up and the 
individual trails begin to wander and straggle on 
ground suitable for lying down and there is a good 
point to sit on; especially when it is near evening and 
the ground is bad for getting a shot at a deer when 
started. 

On such open ground as this it is often necessary 
to traverse a great deal of ground; and as deer in such 
open places will not remain on foot so long when the 
sun is hot as they will in the woods, it may, in warm 
weather especially, be necessary to move fast. As 
noise is here of less consequence than elsewhere one 
may walk quite fast. But the keenness of sight must 
be doubled in consequence. In cold weather deer will 
remain on foot a longtime on such ground; longer in 
the morning than in the afternoon, and will be found 
mainly along the sunny slopes and hollows. 

To jump deer upon such ground is often easy. It 



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Here is a nice close shot. Yet if you don't hold ahead and 
low down, you will miss. Now is the proper time to pull the 
trigger, just as the deer starts on the downward curve. 



THE STILL-HUNTER'S CARDINAL VIRTUE. 213 

is of little use to hunt the ridges or the scattered 
bushes during the time deer are lying down, as the 
acreage of such stuff is uncomfortably disproportion- 
ate to the number of deer. The only way to do is to 
hunt along the edges of the gullies and around the 
heads of little side gullies and pockets, etc., and de- 
pend upon jumping those that lie down in such stuff. 
If it be very thick they may skulk or slip away down 
the bottom of the gully, leaving you amused only with 
the gay gallopade of their retiring hoofs. But, as a rule, 
they will spring out on one side and roll away over 
the open slope to the next ridge, or run down the op- 
posite outside edge of the gully, thus presenting a 
fine chance for a running shot. 

Whether deer are plenty enough on such ground to 
hunt may be soon determined by inspection of the 
ground along the edges and around the heads of 
gullies, also the ground lying between the heads of 
opposite running gullies and the ridges, points, and 
gullies leading to springs, if water be scarce. Tracks 
and droppings will be found on all such ground if 
deer are plenty enough to bother with. 

Patience is no less essential in antelope-stalking 
than in deer-stalking. A little impatience to know 
whether antelope are coming to the red flag will often 
spoil a shot. So when they are feeding along on a 
certain course and you get around and get ahead of 
them it will be nearly impossible to resist raising your 
head too often to see how near they are. And when 
they come slowly it will be very hard to wait instead of 
trying to get closer. 



214 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER COMBINED. 

There is still another kind of ground, quite com- 
mon in those countries where the greater number of 
deer are now to be found. It is a combination of 
open ground and timber, and when deer and acorns 
are plenty often affords shooting so easy and abun- 
dant that any tyro who has strength enough to stroll a 
mile or two on gently rolling ground and can hit any- 
thing at all can often have success enough to make 
him think he is a wonderful hunter. But, on the other 
hand, when deer are scarce and wild on such ground, 
it is in some respects more difficult to hunt than any 
we have yet seen except the heavy timber. We will, 
however, consider deer tolerably wild and not so 
abundant as to make care needless. 

It is autumn now, and the acorns are pattering to the 
ground. Between rugged mountains robed in chap- 
paral of dark, velvet green runs a long low valley 
which breaks on every side in smaller valleys and 
gulches into the adjacent mountains, and forms along 
the sides benches, basins, and pockets of various sizes. 
These are partly open and partly filled with a low 
chapparal of brush live-oaks, to the acorns of which 
the deer are very partial. The bottom and lower sides of 
the valley are well covered with vast live-oaks that have 
stood shoulder to shoulder through centuries of time. 
With their ever-living leaves of dark shining green 



HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER. 215 

and broad rugged limbs festooned with hoary moss, 
they form an ahnost continuous shade. Along the side 
valleys, knolls, and benches stand in silent majesty 
vast old evergreen white-oaks, the acorns of which the 
deer prefer even to those of the common live-oak. 

Is this a hunt or only an evening stroll through a 
grand old English park ? Before us the ground 
stretches away like a gently undulating carpet ; here 
are soft foot-paths running here and there ; on all 
hands are the massive old trees ; here is the cool, de- 
lightful shade, and the softest of breezes playing 
through. And there, too, are the deer, the only thing 
needed to make the park complete ; three standing 
under yonder tree, and two lying down like cattle be- 
neath it. 

Those deer are gone, so we will saunter along farther. 
Take a look into these little side pockets as you go 
along, and even up on those benches. Take good long 
looks down the vistas that open through the timber 
in various directions, and stoop down occasionally for 
a longer view. We may not see anything ahead for 
some time, for those deer have probably stampeded 
everything on their route. But perhaps they soon 
turned off into the hills. Go slowly now, and keep a 
sharp watch on each side, for there are plenty of deer 
here somewhere, as you can see by the numerous 
tracks, and — 

Bump-crash-bump-bump-crash comes suddenly from 
the head of a little side ravine ; and just as the rifle 
comes to your shoulder the heavy green chapparal 
closes over a fat, glossy rump. 

You see it is just as necessary to be careful about 
showing your head around a corner as about showing 
it over a ridge. There is absolutely no way in which 



216 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

you can bring head and shoulders in sight of a deer 
with safety except by being so extremely slow that no 
motion is apparent. Of course a deer will not always 
run or even always see you if you bring yourself too 
quickly in his eye-range. But the greater number of 
deer will both see you and run. And even where they 
are exceedingly tame you will be constantly losing 
shot by it. That last deer was tame enough. He 
stood on the outer edge of the chapparal in plain view 
until you walked out several feet in his field of vision. 

But let us stroll along. It is all easy wal king enough, 
but if you keep this trail of the wild cattle it will be 
still more easy and quiet. 

A stroll of half a mile or so along the smooth, easy 
path brings us to a sudden halt. Something far ahead 
under a tree looks like an inverted V, long, tapering, 
and dark. Watch it carefully for a minute or two. 
It suddenly begins to grow gradually wider at the 
bottom and splits at the top until in a moment there 
are two V's both inverted and about two feet above 
the ground. Most marvelous resemblance to a pair 
of ears. 

No. Don't raise your head another inch. What 
but an animal turning its head a little could have 
made that motion ? The shape alone without any 
motion should satisfy you. 

And now how to get a nearer interview with the 
owner of those ears ? It will not be safe to approach 
over such level ground as that which lies between you. 
Nor are the trees plenty enough to stalk behind. And 
if they were, it would be an unsafe way to approach a 
deer having his head up. But there is a point project- 
ing into the valley about eighty yards from them. 
Back out of where you are, slip into this little gulch 



HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER. 217 

to the left, cross the neck of the ridge at the head of 
it, and cross the next little gulch. That will put you 
on this side of the ridge that terminates in the point 
you wish to reach. 

By the aid of the cattle-trails you reach at last the 
point quietly and with ease. Peering cautiously over 
it you see three slim sleek bodies, gray and glossy, 
lying side by side in domestic peace. There are two 
fawns lying with their heads over on their sides. The 
mother lies beside them with head upraised, chewing 
her cud and watching. 

It is a pity to mar such peaceful happiness. But you 
may not feel so bad about it afterward; so try it. 

Bang ! goes your rifle; and like steel springs released 
from pressure the three deer bound in three differ- 
ent directions. There is no rising or getting up. 
There is only one simultaneous bujnp of hoofs and all 
three stand twenty feet apart, all like statues and all 
looking in different directions. 

Bang ! goes another shot. Bump go twelve hoofs 
again, almost at once. And there they all stand again, 
a little farther apart than before, and all looking. 

Bang ! goes another shot, and the ball with a chiig 
splinters the bark from a live-oak just above the doe's 
back. The three deer give a start, trot a few steps, 
then huddle up all together, and look again. 

At the bang! of another shot the three dart from the 
common center a single bound, stop and look a minute, 
then run a few yards in an inquiring way here and 
there, then huddle up again. And so they go on, get- 
Ing farther and farther away, until the magazine of 
your rifle is empty. And by the time you can put in 
another cartridge they are vanishing softly in different 
directions, each on a soft springy trot. 



218 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

A few minutes' walk, and your eye catches the bil- 
lowy roll of a heavy body vanishing among the dis- 
tant trees. The same old story, you see. You will 
forget that a deer in timber — even when that timber 
is open like a park without a particle of underbrush — 
is still very hard to see. You were not looking sharp 
enough or far enough ahead. Keep a keen eye on 
the edge of the chapparal; for deer, though feeding 
on acorns, still love to browse, and there are bush- 
acorns there, too. 

Sh! stop! Don't you see those two glistening 
points in the brush there on the left, some hundred 
yards ahead? Never let such things escape your eye. 
Look sharp there where the lower edge of the sun- 
light breaking through that gorge on the east strikes 
the chapparal. Do you see two shining points about 
three inches long and fifteen or eighteen inches apart, 
just above the brush? Now watch them closely. 

See! they move and two or three more points just 
below them appear in sight for an instant, and then 
do down. It's a big buck browsing. 

Keep down that rifle! Do you want to throw away 
your only chance? You must make a dead shot on 
him; for a few yards in that chapparal will put him 
beyond your reach. 

Your only chance now is to possess your soul in 
perfect patience for five minutes, ten minutes, even 
twenty or thirty minutes perhaps, until he comes out 
or shows some spot to shoot at. There is every proba- 
bility that he will do so as he is right in the edge of 
the brush; it is yet early and cool, and as there is no 
hunting or other disturbance here, it is much more 
likely that he will come down here to spend the day 
in breezy shade than remain in that brush. You can 



HUNTING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER. 219 

go to that little rise or bench there about fifty yards 
closer to him; but stay there and wait. 

You reach the bench, and the glistening points are 
still there, surging up and down, and shining more 
brightly than ever. 

You found out yesterday that you were not yet 
over the buck ague, and you are now getting another 
lesson in it. You begin to get terribly restless, and 
fancy you know just where his body is. I might as 
well tell a drowning man to have patience until I can 
build a boat to rescue him. Your desire to shoot is 
worse than the murderer's secret, and kicks and ham- 
mers against your perspiring ribs, until you can no 
longer resist the temptation. 

The rifle cracks, and all is still. The glistening 
points are gone, but there was no crash of brush or 
bump of bounding hoofs. Killed, of course, you think, 
as you hasten to the spot. After a long search you 
find a few fresh tracks, and see where he has bitten 
the leaves from the brush. A close inspection shows 
tracks leading away through the brush, but there is 
no blood, no hair, no plunging jumps. Of course you 
wonder if you hit him. But you will never know. 
Possibly you did; but probably you did not. Never 
take such a shot as that but wait patiently for a bet- 
ter one. The chances of a better one are greater than 
of hitting by guesswork. He just dropped his head 
and skulked quietly off. 

Sadly pondering the lesson you have just learned, 
you lounge along for a quarter of a mile or so, when 
suddenly you see a low dark object some distance 
ahead. Something peculiar about its shape and color 
arrests your attention; directly a head with branching 
antlers rises from the ground in front of it; and in a 



230' THE STILL-HUNTER. 

twinkling the thing is changed into a majestic old 
buck, — the genuine powder-flask buck. Proudly erect 
he stands for a second, a picture of massive grace 
and strength, and takes a look around; and then down 
goes the head again to the ground; the beauty is 
all gone and he looks as angular and ugly as an old 
cow. But for an instant only. Again comes up the 
head, the neck is proudly erect as before, and all the 
outlines are again those of grace. He is feeding on 
acorns; and now you can try a task always difficult 
and often impossible — to approach a deer directly 
within his sight. The ground is too level to allow 
you to get behind knolls, and he is too far from the 
hills on either side for a good shot, so your best 
chance is to crawl directly toward him. Half-cock 
your rifle and push it ahead of you, leave your hat 
here, and work ahead with your elbows and toes. 
The instant you see him raise his head, stop and lie 
perfectly still until he puts it down again for another 
acorn. Don't be impatient, and never mind if he 
does seem to be working away from you. Should he 
go behind a tree, with head away from you, you may 
get on your hands and knees and crawl faster; but 
the instant he raises his head stop at once and remain 
fixed in whatever position you happen to be. Don't 
move at all as long as he can see you. And don't try 
to rise up to shoot. 

Fifteen minutes* work brings you within a hun- 
dred and fifty yards of him, when all at once he 
throws his head suddenly up and looks directly at 
you. Be not at all alarmed; for a deer often looks as 
if he saw something when he really suspects nothing. 

But now he looks longer than usual, while you are in 
a very uncomfortable position, with a very active fire 




^ 

& 



H 



HLTK^TING IN THE OPEN AND IN TIMBER. 2'21 

of impatience fast blazing up in your vitals. The 
only remedy is patience. He surely cannot smell you 
on account of the wind, and he cannot possibly make 
out what you are if you only keep still. 

Suddenly he turns half around and scratches his 
neck with his hoof. Now throw your rifle into posi- 
tion for a shot; for he acts as though he were done 
feeding, and if he starts on a walk he may go some 
distance before he stops. Again he straightens up 
and looks around, and through an opening the morn- 
ing sun shines on his beamy coat and polished horns. 
And now I guess you had better try him, though it is 
a long shot for unsteady nerves. 

The rifle cracks, and the buck gives a convulsive 
start, and as a distinct spat of the ball comes back on 
the air he breaks for the chapparal, no longer on the 
beautiful ricochet gait we have seen before, but on a 
regular race-horse gallop. The hissing lead flies be- 
hind him fast as you can send it from your repeater, 
and you begin to reflect on the fleeting nature of 
earthly pleasures, when his gait begins to change to 
the lumbering gallop of a cow, and in a second he 
wavers, staggers, and then goes plunging down head 
first to the ground, shot through the heart. 

Such is the hunting in the oak cafions of Southern 
California, and probably on all similar ground in any 
part of the Union. If not disturbed, the deer prefer 
these valleys and shady groves with the side cafions 
and gulches to the hills on either side. But if hunted 
or disturbed much they soon go back into the chap- 
paral by day, where it is quite useless to follow them. 
And sometimes, as in spring and early summer, the 
majority will keep pretty close in the chapparal all 
the time, and make fev/ tracks outside. 



232 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XX. 

SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 

I HAVE now gone over all the varieties of ground 
upon which still-hunting proper can be followed to 
advantage. There are of course many other kinds 
of ground which abound in deer. But every piece 
worth still-hunting at all will be included under the 
heads so far considered. 

So, also, I have brought into view all the general 
principles that lie at the foundation of all still-hunting 
or stalking of any kind of large game. And all the 
modifications of those principles that are likely to 
often arise have been seen. But there still remain 
some subordinate or special principles to be examined, 
and some that we have already had a glimpse of must 
be looked at more closely. 

A deer when started may generally be halted by 
any sudden, new, or strange noise in a direction dif- 
ferent from that of the noise or thing that alarmed 
him. But to have this effect he must not see anything 
to alarm him. Hence if a deer be coming toward 
you and be not too closely pursued by anything, a 
bleat like that of a sheep, a sharp whistle, yell, or 
other noise will be very apt to cause him to stop. 

But, as a rule, a deer will not stop for any noise in 
the direction of the cause of his alarm, especially if 
he has smelt a person. The report of your gun is 
quite likely to make him stop, if anything will; though 



SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 223 

I believe that where such is the case there is gerierally 
an echo that perplexes the deer so that he knows not 
whence the sound comes. 

Sometimes a strange noise like that of a shot from 
a rifle will so perplex a deer that he will not run at 
all until he not only knows what it is but knows its 
direction. We saw an instance of this in the last 
chapter. To some this may have appeared a trifle 
overdrawn. But I know numerous cases of a deer 
standing while a dozen bullets whizzed around him, 
at short range too; and have one well-attested case of 
a gentleman shooting out five cartridges he had in 
his Winchester, and then refilling and emptying it 
twice, making thirty-five shots at a single deer only a 
hundred yards away. He told me this himself; and 
two of his companions counted the shots. 

Such a fool does mere curiosity sometimes make 
of deer that they will stay to investigate the noise 
even when they see the shooter plainly. Once, while 
returning from a hunt that I had to give up because 
of an attack of sick headache, I saw three deer run up 
a range of low hills quarter of a mile from the wagon. 
I made a detour and got above and nearly ahead of 
them; but was so weak and exhausted by running 
and climbing with the headache that I could scarcely 
stand. While waiting to catch my breath and let my 
hand get a little steadiness, they came directly in 
plain sight of me. Seeing that they would pass out 
of sight in a minute if I did not shoot, I commenced 
operations. I had a Sharp's rifle and eighteen car- 
tridges in my belt and one in my rifle. Those deer 
stopped within sixty yards at the first shot, and one 
stood there until I fired away the last shot. I tried 
my very best to miss them entirely; but about the 



224 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

tenth shot one got hit in the kidneys with a ball in- 
tended for the shoulder, and about the seventeenth 
shot a ball intended for the nearest of the two remain- 
ing ones hit the other one standing a few steps beyond. 
After the last cartridge was gone the last one still 
stood looking, and stayed until I moved several steps 
toward him with the empty rifle. During nearly all 
this time I stood in plain sight, making plenty of 
motion with loading and firing, and after shooting a 
few times I had to move a few steps to a stone to sit 
down upon. Yet all the while the deer seemed deter- 
mined to know what sort of a noise that was, though 
they saw me plainly. 

All such cases are, however, rare exceptions, and 
generally happen only with deer that have seldom or 
never seen a man or heard a gun. There is but one 
sound principle to be drawn from them. And that is 
this: whenever you see a deer moving, whether merely 
traveling, or alarmed either by you or some one else, 
get ahead of him and above him if you can do so. 

For this reason it is often advisable to open fire at 
once upon a running deer, where you have a rifle that 
can be rapidly loaded. But if you have a single-load- 
ing gun or muzzle-loader, and are not a good shot at 
running game, the chances of the deer stopping any- 
how may be greater than your chances of hitting 
him; and in case he does stop he is almost certain to 
stop just long enough to let you load and raise the 
rifle about half way to a level and then he is canter- 
ing gayly away. A deer running up hill is very apt to 
stop once or twice to look back, and even when very 
wild he is apt to stop at the top of the hill for an 
instant. Hence it may be best to reserve your fire 
unless you have a repeater or double breech-loader. 



SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 226 

But running down hill a deer is not apt to stop. And 
running on a level he is less likely to stop than when 
running up hill, but more likely to stop than when 
running down hill. All these principles will, however, 
be modified by the question whether the deer knows 
what he is running from. If he has smelt you or seen 
you plainly he is far less apt to stop on any kind of 
ground; but if he has run only from the noise you 
make he is more likely to stop. 

In the last chapter we saw how a deer may be ap- 
proached in the open field of his vision. In that case, 
however, he did not see you, or at least noticed noth- 
ing suspicious; as, if he saw you at all, he did not know 
you from a stump. 

There is one case, however, in which a deer may be 
.Approached while looking directly at you and perhaps 
suspecting what you are. There are some deer so 
tame that you may do this even on open ground for a 
short distance; but I do not refer to such, and no con- 
clusions should be drawn from such cases. I refer to 
deer pretty wild; though, as a rule, it can be done only 
with tame ones. 

Here, for instance, is a big buck a hundred and fifty 
yards or more away. He is standing in brush nearly 
shoulder-high; you can see only his horns and ears, 
and they are turned directly toward you. It is plain 
that he has seen you first and is ready to go at any 
instant. 

You know the difficulty of hitting the head at that 
distance; you know the folly of trying to hit his body 
by guesswork; and you also know he will not tarry 
long. Now the same brush that conceals his body 
also conceals the greater part of yours — this being 
supposed to be brushy open ground, the only place 



226 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

where this kind of approaching can be done with any 
fair chance of success — and by taking advantage of 
that fact you may with quickness cut down the dis- 
tance to seventy-five yards before he starts. Down, 
then, with your head if you can, and run directly 
toward him. If you cannot hide your head drop 
your hat, or you might as well drop it in either case. 
But run, run, run as fast as you can, and never mind 
necessary noise, but make none needlessly. You will 
often lose a shot this way, but you will more often get 
a better one than you could have had from where you 
first saw the head. In the same way you may charge 
on deer with a horse. 

You have already seen that if you walk too fast you 
will make too much noise, will not have time to look 
as closely and carefully as you should do, and that 
your quick motions will catch a deer's sight more 
quickly than if m.oving slowly. But there are other 
cases besides that above given where it may be ex- 
pedient to walk very fast. Suppose, for instance, the 
ground is in such condition from crusty snow or dry 
leaves or other cause that you must make a noise in 
walking, or when it is in good condition generally you 
come to a place that you cannot get through without 
making enough noise to alarm every deer within it. 
Then, as a rule, the faster you go the better. For a 
deer does not always start the instant he hears a 
noise, and even very wild ones will often wait a mo- 
ment to see what it is, to see if it is coming closer, etc. 
Moreover, they may on a windy day or on ground of 
peculiar formation be deceived in the distance or di- 
rection of it — though this is rare — and wait a minute or 
two to hide or look. In such case every yard that can 
be gained upon a deer is important. And as a deer 



SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 227 

cares little for the mere amount of noise, the quality and 
nearness being the main things that determine his 
action, you lose much less by your extra noise than 
you gain by the extra speed. So, too, when you must 
go down wind, the faster you can go the greater your 
chances of getting close enough for a running shot 
before your scent reaches a deer's nose. In all such 
cases it is not advisable to run as you did on the deer 
in the brush; though you had better do so in eyery 
case in which you attempt to approach a deer that is 
alarmed and looking at you, as he will only stand 
about so long anyhow, and the mere rapidity of your 
motion will not hurry him much. 

But, in general, you cannot commit a worse error 
than walking too fast. And if deer are moderately 
plenty, the wind favorable, the walking soft and still, 
you can scarcely go too slowly in all those places where 
you are likely to see a deer at any moment. 

Many good hunters say, " Never follow a deer that 
has run away, but look for another." This advice is 
substantially sound, but like nearly all good hunter's 
advice is so carelessly stated that it is bad advice. To 
follow directly o?i the track of a started deer is gener- 
ally useless unless the deer are exceedingly tame and 
the ground very rolling; and even then it is often use- 
less except upon snow. Yet there are times when you 
had better follow a deer. 

A deer when started will go from a quarter of a 
mile to two or three miles. This will depend upon 
his wildness, the nature of the ground over which he 
has to run, and the cause of his alarm. During this 
run he will stop from one to a dozen times and look 
back a few minutes or seconds only. He will then 
walk a few hundred yards, stopping several times to 



228 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

look back. Then he will feed or browse a little and 
do plenty of looking back. Then he will wander about 
and stand around for a while, still looking back. And 
finally he will lie down and think nothing more of the 
back track unless he be one of the learned ones that 
always watch the back track. But some deer — such 
as a very fat buck on a warm day — are decidedly lazy. 
I have known such a one run only out of sight over a 
ridge, stop in the comfortable shade of a big bush, 
watch there a few minutes, and then lie down. So I 
have known a band of deer run over two or three ridges 
and there stop and begin feeding in five minutes, 
keeping then no more watch in the direction from 
which they came than in any other. These and many 
others I have known were cases in which the deer 
ran only from noise and did not know what caused 
it. But deer when very tame will often do it when 
they have seen or smelled you. But even in such cases 
do not follow directly upon the trail if you can possibly 
avoid it. And be twenty times more careful than 
ever before how you peep over a ridge. 

Although this will generally fail with deer at all 
wild, yet it by no means follows that it is necessary to 
follow them at once. Suppose you start a handsome 
buck or a band of deer this morning. It may be 
worth while to take the trail in the afternoon and fol- 
low it up as you would the trail of any deer. And 
though it might not reward you to keep directly on 
the trail all the time, it may be best to follow it up to 
the point where the deer begin to straggle and browse; 
then back out and make a detour; and then either sit 
them out if it be open ground and you can get a 
commanding view, or else hunt as you would for any 
deer. 



SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 229 

But deer of any kind either wild or tame may often 
be followed and overhauled by a dashing runner. 
And a very ordinary runner can often get ahead of a 
started deer or flank him so as to get a good shot. 
This will generally fail. But success attends the effort 
so often that I do not hesitate to say, always follow a 
deer under these circumstances: 

ist. Where the deer runs around a hill and you can 
cut across it or run around the other way, or where 
he runs over it and you can run around it quickly. 

2d. Where the deer runs into a basin, pocket, or 
valley and you can make a short-cut to one side or 
the head of it. If such basin or pocket be up a hill 
some distance the deer will be quite apt to stop awhile 
in it. 

3d. Where the deer runs into a long valley with a 
broad bottom or a narrow one with a good trail at the 
bottom. In such case run parallel with the ravine, 
but on the dividing ridge, and keep out of sight except 
when you peep over. A deer is apt to be in little 
haste in traversing such valleys. 

4th. In all cases where the ground will allow you to, 
make a circuit and get ahead of the deer or even 
abreast with him, but on one side. 

While doing this you must never forget that the 
deer even when walking moves quite fast, and when 
he is running you have not a second to spare. Your 
only hope lies in cutting off distance, and that in the 
shortest possible time. Hence there are kinds of 
ground, such as across a wide valley or up a long hill, 
where you will see at a glance that running would be 
folly. 

Deer will sometimes stand and let a man at a dis- 
tance pass by, especially along a road where they know 



230 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

people travel; for a deer knows about as well as a man 
what a road means. But even when there is no road 
deer will sometimes stand. And then they will be apt 
to trot off and walk, trot or run for a mile or two, and 
lookback just as if pursued. Therefore, when some 
one comes rushing in and tells you about an "awful 
big buck" he just saw along the road or near a spring, 
instead of rushing frantically out on a wild-goose 
chase, just coolly inquire what the deer was doing, 
whether he saw your informant or not, and whether 
he moved away, and whether he went off on a walk, 
trot, or run. And remember that a deer started by 
some one else is no better to follow than one you have 
started yourself. 

When you start a deer that you cannot see, but only 
hear or get a glimpse of, spring at once to the highest 
bit of ground at hand. And if you do not see the game 
at once do not get uneasy, for it may have stopped a 
moment in brush or somewhere where you cannot at 
once see it. You will generally lose nothing by such 
patience, for if your deer has passed on out of sight 
you will be too late to head him off. And if you are 
going to track him there is no haste. But if you see 
him again at all shoot at once, for it is likely to be 
your last chance for that time. 

Antelope rarely stop to look back much until at a 
pretty safe distance. They are generally sufficiently 
amused with the first crack of a rifie,and have little more 
curiosity about its nature or direction. And though they 
may stop and take a long look at you, and look very 
large and close as they loom up against the sky, yet 
that stopping-point is far away, and the moment you 
move they are apt to move also. There is little or no 
chance for you to head off or flank these slippery 



SUBORDINATE PRINCIPLES. 231 

beauties, though a companion may sometimes get be- 
hind them by a long detour if you keep still and let 
them watch you. 

Antelope are also such wide travelers that unless 
exceedingly tame or upon very advantageous ground 
it will rarely be worth while to follow up any that you 
have once started. But there are kinds of ground upon 
which with a good horse it will be worth while. And 
in such case — and in fact with deer also — it is always 
best to give them plenty of time to get quieted down. 
And even then approach them from behind or one 
side if possible, and not on the back trail. 



232 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

TWO OR MORE PERSONS HUNTING IN COMPANY. HUNT- 
ING ON HORSEBACK. 

Thus far the beginner has been supposed to be 
entirely alone; for the most necessary knowledge is 
how to manage a deer when alone. But two or more 
good hunters may often assist one anothervery much; 
on some kinds of ground it is quite essential to have 
a companion; in some places it may be unpleasant or 
unsafe to hunt alone. 

After what you have already seen of the habits of 
deer very little information is needed about hunting 
with a companion. By your side, ahead of you, or 
behind you he should seldom be. Two persons are 
much more apt to be heard than one; each one is in 
haste to get the first look over a ridge; each one 
hurries and flurries the other, just as two pointers or 
setters working together on a warm trail of birds are 
apt to excite and more or less demoralize each other 
even beneath the very whip of the trainer. Conse- 
quently there is four or five times the danger of 
alarming a deer, and of missing one if shot at. Two 
persons unless very steady shots should never try to 
shoot at once at the same deer, or even into a band. 
Let one have the first shot even though a second 
chance be lost. And it is poor policy for two to try 
and creep together even on a band of deer or ante- 
lope. If one cannot get around and lie in the course 



TWO OR MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 233 

the game is likely to take when it runs, he had better 
stay back and leave all the fun to his comrade. 
Men who have hunted for market or for skins for a 
long time may of course acquire the stolidity of 
butchers and not excite each other. But the mere 
amateur had better heed the above advice. 

In moving over pretty level ground two persons 
should keep abreast: in the woods just far enough 
apart to keep in sight of each other; in open ground 
still farther apart. Then if either start a deer it may 
run across the course of the other one. On rolling 
ground you may generally keep closer together than 
on level ground. In going up a valley take opposite 
sides of the bottom, if the bottom be a hundred or 
two hundred yards or so in width. But if narrow at 
the bottom, with high sides, it may be better for 
one to take the bottom and the other the high ground 
above or walk pretty well up along the side. Should 
the bottom of a valley narrow and deep contain 
trees or brush in which deer are apt to be lying 
this should always be done, as they will not be 
apt to start unless some one be in the bottom, 
and then the one in the bottom may either get no 
shot at all or a very poor one. Should the valley be 
both narrow and shallow so as to be a mere gully 
from which deer will start at sight of a person along 
the edge, then you should take opposite edges. In 
going around a hill take opposite sides, whether you 
go around at the base or at the top. When going 
along a ridge toward the point each person should 
take one side of the top just below the level of the 
top, so that he can see anything running along the 
sides or top either. In traversing a ridge the other 
way one had better make a circuit and get upon the 



234 THE STILL.HUNTER. 

back of the ridge far away from the point, and then 
let the other ascend the point. The same plan is 
often advisable in traversing a short gulch or ravine, 
instead of each one taking one edge. But it is not 
always worth while to take this trouble unless you 
have reason to believe you will start something. You 
will of course divide at all windfalls, brush-patches, 
etc., where there is any probability of a deer, and 
either keep abreast in going around or let one take a 
wide circuit first and get on the opposite side while 
you go through. Movements of this sort become 
quite obvious after you once thoroughly know the 
habits of deer. It is scarcely necessary now to tell 
you where to post a third or fourth companion if you 
should have one with you. 

Good deer-driving may often be done by a single 
person. One man can generally start a deer from a 
piece of ground, especially if he goes down wind, quite 
as effectually as a dozen dogs. There is a partial 
exception to this in the case of the skulking deer; 
but, if they are at all plenty, enough of them will 
run to give your companions a shot. This is often the 
only way that a piece of noisy or very brushy ground 
can be hunted without dogs. 

This driving may be done by letting one or more 
persons go through the ground where the deer are 
likely to be, cracking plenty of brush on the way, 
while the rest are posted at probable points of escape 
for the game. But this is not worth while unless you 
already know about where the game is, or you are 
driving a basin or gulch or hill almost certain to 
contain something. A better way when you are un- 
certain of the game and are skirmishing about at 
random to find it is to form a line, and move abreast 





These chaps are on the track of this deer, and both together 
when they should have separated and gone along the sides of the 
hill as soon as they found he had gone down the point. But it 
was better walking on the ridge. 



TIVO OR MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 235 

about a hundred yards apart in the woods and two 
hundred to three hundred or even more in open 
ground. But if the open be very rolling or brushy, 
keep the same distance as in the woods. This line 
should be curved by the ends going forward and the 
center lagging a little when approaching a likely 
looking place. This, however, requires good know- 
ledge of the ground and a previous understanding 
among the party. I have seen Indians do it to great 
advantage in very dense woods, making a perfect 
drag-net of the line. 

A large' number of persons may be used in such a 
way. But first-rate work can be often done by four 
or five and without bending the line. It requires only 
a general knowledge of the places where deer are 
likely to be, and of the directions they are likely to 
take when started. Here, for instance, is a set of 
short ravines running into a main valley. These little 
ravines lie nearly parallel with each other, are quite 
numerous, brushy, and good places for deer. Now in- 
stead of going down one and up another, etc., as a 
single person should often do if he is to hunt them at 
all, the line should sweep across them all; one person 
being at the head, another at the mouth, the rest be- 
tween. This is because it can be done in one quarter 
of the time the other way would require, and because 
the deer are more apt to run up or down the ravines 
than across them. 

When hunting with companions always shoot when 
a deer runs toward any of them, even if you have no 
good shot. For if a person be not expecting it, a 
deer may be out of shot before he knows it, or may 
slip past him quite unseen and unheard. A shot is 
the surest warning that can be given. 



236 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

When you hear a comrade shoot, run at once to 
a rock, piece of high ground, or other command- 
ing position. Remain there some time keeping 
a sharp outlook, for a deer may not be running away 
from your friend fast. Or he may be wounded and 
only walking away. And if the ground be brushy it 
will take both patient and keen watching to keep a 
slowly traveling deer from passing you unseen and 
unheard. But never go at once to your companion 
unless he calls you, for he may not be done shooting, 
or may have wounded one and be trying to get 
another shot at it, etc. etc. 

In hunting antelope with companions in the ways 
above shown, the distances you should be from one 
another must generally be vastly greater than when 
hunting deer. They should be at least doubled for 
the very tamest antelope, unless upon very rolling 
ground. And for wild ones on ground that is but a 
little rolling the distances should be five or six and 
sometimes nearly ten times as great. When antelope 
get once started upon a certain course they are often 
hard to turn from it by anything approaching from 
the side; especially if the leading buck get ahead be- 
fore he sees the danger. Hence a horseman can dash 
in quite close to a long-strung-out band of antelope 
by running in well behind the leader. They can be 
turned, however, and driven back and forth by being 
headed off by outposts placed far enough out ahead 
of them. Deer could probably be managed the same 
way upon the same kind of ground, though they are 
ready enough to swerve from their chosen course 
when they see danger on either side of it. And they 
care but little for leaders. 



TPFO OR MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 237 

All such hunting on the plains must, however be 
done upon horseback. 

The use of a horse in general still-hunting is a 
point upon which hunters differ. The truth of the 
matter I take to be this: Wherever a saddle-horse 
can be used to carry you to and from your hunting- 
ground, to carry you from one point of it to another 
and at the same time carry your game out, by all 
means use one. For even then you will have all the 
walking necessary for exercise, etc. And in general, 
the more you can ride the more you can walk. 

But whether it will be worth while to remain in 
the saddle while hunting is a vastly different matter. 
In hunting antelope so much ground has often to be 
traversed that a horse is almost a necessity. So some- 
times with deer upon prairie and other open ground 
of that nature. In such cases most hunters remain 
in the saddle until they catch first sight of the game. 
Then they dismount and proceed as is usual when 
hunting upon foot. 

But others remain on horseback all the time and 
shoot from the saddle or jump off and shoot quickly. 
And this is what is really meant by hunting on horse- 
back. Whether it is ever expedient to hunt antelope 
in this way may be doubted. The shots are generally 
so long that a horse would have to actually hold his 
breath to allow you to take a fine enough aim. And 
even by jumping off to shoot you would gain but 
little if antelope were very wild, as a long running 
shot would be about all you would get. 

It is now as hard to find antelope that do not know 
exactly what a man on horseback means as it is to 
find wild-geese that do not know what a man in a 
boat means. Consequently the main reliance must be 



238 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

in approaching them without their knowing it, or by 
true still-hunting or stalking. But this can hardly 
ever be done with a horse, which they are very sure 
to see or hear. All the success with a horse depends 
upon the assumption that the game is not so afraid of 
a mounted man as of one afoot. And this is now 
rarely the case with antelope. 

There are, however, many places where deer are 
not so afraid of a mounted man as of one on foot. 
This may result from two causes, both directly oppo- 
site. First, because they rarely or never see a mounted 
man. Secondly, because they never see a man in any 
other way and are not disturbed by horsemen. 

And first : Where deer seldom see a man on horse- 
back there are many that will have little fear of one, 
and will let one ride up within easy shot, either stand- 
ing up or lying down, and looking at the combination 
with some curiosity, but with little concern. Conse- 
quently if the ground be noisy from any cause, or the 
ground be too level or brushy for still-hunting, you 
may do far better to both hunt and shoot on horse- 
back. So where a country is quite open and level 
enough, like prairie, you may often do better with a 
horse, wagon, or sleigh than you can on foot. Deer 
know the tread of heavy animals perfectly, and will 
often stand quite unconcerned about the tramp of 
hoofs when they would fly from a light crack of a 
twig. 

Secondly: Where deer are used to mounted men, 
but are not much disturbed by them (as in Lower 
California, where no one hunts, and only once in a 
long while a dash is made with the lasso at a deer on 
open ground, but where scarcely any one is ever seen 
on foot), this may be the best way to hunt, as you 



TWO OH MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 239 

may not only get closer to deer than you could do on 
foot, but can traverse far more ground in a day. Deer 
vary, however, about this, and I have seen plenty 
that, though used to horsemen and not disturbed by 
them, were easier to approach on foot. And where 
they are hunted much on horseback they learn per- 
fectly what a horse means, and will often run at the 
sound of hoofs without stopping to see whether there 
be a man on the horse or not, and this, too, when 
wild mustangs and cattle are ranging the hills and 
the deer feed among them without fear. They seem 
to know the different sound of the hoofs of a horse 
with a man on him just as well as a man can generally 
tell it. The only sure way to test the question whether 
hunting on a horse is better than on foot is to try it. 
And often the advantage of traversing more ground 
overbalances all else. If one is to go stumbling with 
heavy boots over noisy ground he had much better 
be on a horse and go as fast as he can. But if he 
will wear moccasins and use thorough care he can 
approach almost any deer or antelope much closer 
than he can on a horse, provided the deer has not 
seen him at a distance. If you cannot keep them 
from seeing you, as when you are on level ground, etc., 
then your chances will be better on a horse, unless the 
deer are too much hunted on horseback. When a 
deer sees you, you can often get closer by a dash on 
horseback than if on foot. 

A good hunting-horse is not the easiest thing in 
the world to get. It is commonly supposed that some 
phlegmatic old hack whose sensibilities have been 
blunted by a thorough course of work, starvation, 
and thrashing is best for this purpose. But such a 
horse is rarely sure of foot and is sure to be slow. 



240 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

When you start out hunting you naturally desire to 
get somewhere before dark. Such a horse is also 
quite as apt to be a fool as any horse is. There are 
plenty of old horses that never exhibit any symptoms 
of sensibility until you come around them with a 
gun. 

Far better than any such stock is a good active 
young horse. But he must have " horse sense;" and 
so must his rider. The hunting-horse needs kind and 
rational treatment, and above all quiet, cool, easy 
handling. He must not be jerked or kicked for being 
uneasy under fire. By such treatment, as well as by 
firing over his head, you can completely ruin a horse 
that is already quite well trained. And whipping and 
scolding will never make him allow a dead deer to be 
put on his back. He may allow it that time, but an- 
other time he is liable to object most seriously about 
the time you get it on and begin to tie it fast. He 
should be allowed to smell of the deer as long as he 
wishes, being patted meanwhile instead of scolded. 
Then if he does not yield, quietly blindfold him until 
it is firmly lashed on. If you put it on so carelessly 
at first that it slips and hangs on his side or under 
his belly, especially if he succeeds in kicking or 
" bucking" himself free from it, you will be apt to 
have trouble with him in the future. 

Sometimes a very good horse cannot resist a trifling 
nervousness when you raise the rifle ; a nervousness 
not born of fear, but only of expectation. In such 
case you will have to dismount to make any sort of 
a fine shot. And you will have to do so nearly al- 
ways to make a very good long shot. If your horse 
will not stay where you leave him, have a rope thirty 
or forty feet long knotted into several large loops at 



TPVO OR MORE HUNTING IN COMPANY. 241 

one end, with the other end tied around his neck and 
then looped around his nose with a noose that cannot 
slip off. Carry over the horn of the saddle the set of 
loops, which should be so arranged as to take up 
nearly all the rope and come under the horse's feet 
when cast off. Cast them off when you jump, and 
you may leave your horse a long time with the cer- 
tainty of finding him firmly anchored somewhere 
very near by, no matter how well he may understand 
getting away with a picket-rope. This is much bet- 
ter than a bayonet or other sharp picket-pin, as it 
takes no time to cast off the rope, is not so liable to 
come loose, especially in soft ground, and needs no 
pounding on hard ground. Holding the rope while 
you shoot is very unreliable as well as a little unsafe 
if your horse be too fearful. 



242 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

SPECIAL MODES OF HUNTING. THE COW-BELL AND 
TIRING DOWN DEER. 

As before stated, the art of still-hunting consists 
not in the use of tricks or artifices, but in the ready 
and skillful application of sound common-sense prin- 
ciples. 

There are, however, a few modes in which deer and 
antelope maybe hunted that are special and approach 
the nature of tricks. Some of these, such as luring 
antelope within shot by a red flag or kicking up the 
foot behind one occasionally when stretched upon the 
ground, thus taking advantage of their curiosity, etc., 
have already been so fully and frequently described 
by other writers that for the sake of brevity I will omit 
them and confine myself to two modes which, so far as 
I can remember, have never been written about be- 
fore. Though both are in fact noisy hunting, yet, be- 
ing the outgeneraling of a deer by a single person, 
properly belong to still-hunting. The first is the use 
of the cow-bell. 

In many parts of our country the deer are used to 
the sound of the cow-bell during the spring, summer, 
and autumn, and wherever belled cattle run those 
deer that have been accustomed to seeing the cattle 
and hearing the bell at the same time, so as to associ- 
ate the two, will be little afraid of the htW, provided 
they are not hunted in this way. Therefore, when the 



SPECIAL MODES OF HUNTING. 243 

autumn leaves are dry and crackly, or the snow is 
stiff and noisy, or the brush is thick and high, it is well 
to try the cow-bell. 

Hang the bell over your shoulder so that it will 
sound as if on a cow, and walk along fast, never 
minding the noise of your feet, but keeping a very 
keen eye ahead. Two companions, one on each side, 
about one hundred to three hundred yards from you 
and forty to a hundred and fifty yards ahead, may often 
work well in brush or on snow, but on snow they must 
be farther out from you than on bare ground, unless 
it is very brushy. It is well to have a set of signals 
with the bell so as to tell them if you see a deer, or, 
if on a trail, which way it turns, etc. Deer act very 
differently before the bell, and it is always liable to 
fail, though it will often give you great success. In 
thick brush deer that are accustomed to belled cattle 
will be apt to play along before the bell about a 
hundred yards or so ahead, stopping to look back at 
it, and watching its direction so closely that they do 
not notice your companions on the sides. Sometimes 
they will stand quite unconcerned, looking at you un- 
til you get in plain open sight, so that you can get a 
good shot. And sometimes they will run at the first 
sound of it, and not let you even get sight of them. I 
have seen an old buck so bothered by the bell that it 
seemed impossible to make him run, although for five 
minutes I did my very best to miss him; and my fin- 
gers were so numb with cold that I could hardly load 
the rifle, while he stood looking at me in the utmost 
amazement, at only fifty yards. Every time he start- 
ed to run a single jingle of the bell would make him 
halt and look all around. This buck was celebrated 
for his wildness, but no one had thought of trying a 



244 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

bell on him, although belled cattle had been ranging 
with him all summer. But with some deer this will 
not work at all. I v/as staying once at a logging- 
camp when a light sleet suddenly made the hunting 
very bad for a few days. Having noticed that many 
of the logging-teams wore small bells, and that deer 
stood around, browsed, and even lay down within 
sound of these, I got a bell and went after the deer. 
Deer were quite plenty, and the first day I jumped 
over a dozen single ones whose tracks I saw, and 
doubtless more whose tracks I did not see. But 
every one of these jumped out of sight. The next day 
I muffled the clapper of the bell so that it would sound 
as if very far off, and the result was the same as the 
day before. I afterward tried it on soft snow with no 
better success. The reason probably was because I 
went away from the road. Had I kept in it at early 
morning and late in the evening I might have done 
better, though the main trouble undoubtedly was 
that the moment they heard it they got up and 
looked, and the difference between me and a logging- 
team was too striking. The difference in the tread 
had also something to do with it. They had not been 
hunted with a bell before, but were exceedingly wild 
from being still-hunted by Indians and market-shoot- 
ers. I never tried the bell on California deer, but 
should think it would be of little use, except where 
cattle wear bells; though if the ground is such that 
you must make a noise anyhow, it would be well to 
try it anywhere. And it is sometimes a good plan 
to put it on a horse in hunting very bushy or very 
rough ground, where deer cannot see far. Some deer 
know the step of a man so perfectly, however, that 
they cannot be deceived by anything, and nothing but 



SPECIAL MODES OF HUNTING. 245 

the utmost strategy and caution will avail. And 
whenever the ground will allow still walking you had 
better depend only upon strategy and caution in hunt- 
ing all deer, and let horses, cow-bells, etc., alone. 

The other mode is tiring down a deer so that he 
loses his wildness so far as to allow you to get close 
enough for a shot. This can generally be done only 
upon snow so light as not to impede your walking, 
while it enables you to follow the trail without delay 
in looking for tracks. It may, however, with a very 
fat deer be done on some kinds of bare ground where 
rapid tracking is easy. I am aware that deer may be 
run down on a deep crusty snow by a man on snow- 
shoes. But this is mere brutal butchery. Whenever 
the snow is deep enough and hard enough to do that 
the deer are so poor as to be almost worthless either 
for venison or for their hides. I refer only to tiring a 
deer when in good condition and when he has some 
chance for his life. 

Probably every one who has been much among old 
hunters has heard of that illustrious individual who 
can "run down a deer and whip him into camp with 
his ramrod." Like the man who "shoots from the hip 
as well as anybody else can from the shoulder," he is 
a little hard to find. You can find his cousin, his 
nephew, or his uncle without much difficulty, and you 
can find plenty of men who have seen him; but you 
cannot find him yourself. This admixture of what is 
probably sheer nonsense with what is real truth has 
caused many persons to disbelieve the real facts of 
the case. 

If a deer be chased all day by a man upon a dog- 
trot, or even upon a rapid walk, the deer toward even- 
ing will tire down, not so that the man can catch or 



246 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

Strike him, or even get within a stone's throw of him; 
but the deer will get more and more careless, and 
stand longer and longer at each stopping-place, and 
even begin to feed, until finally the pursuer gets a 
pretty fair shot at him. 

I am here compelled to go outside of my own ex- 
perience. I never would pay so high a price for a 
deer as such hunting involves, and consequently never 
tried it. But I have time and again met Indians in 
the woods following a trail on a dog-trot, and talked 
with them about it. And I have known friends of 
mine stopping at the same camp at which I was stop- 
ping try the same thing. There was always a pretty 
general agreement about two things: 

ist. That a deer may often be shot in this way, but 
that in general it will take nearly an all-day tramp of 
at least three miles an hour, and for anything like cer- 
tainty it should be at least five miles. 

2d. That some deer cannot be overtaken in this 
way in one day; but the pursuer must camp on the 
track and take it again in the morning, or must re- 
turn to it if he goes off to camp. The second day, it 
is said, is quite sure to end the chase; but often the 
first day will not. I once knew two men who were 
most tireless trampers try it for three successive 
days on only an inch of snow that had been stiffened 
by a thaw, and give it up. They had to take differ- 
ent deer every day, as they left the trail each night so 
far from camp that they thought their chances better 
with a new one. 

On the whole, this is a mode of hunting suitable 
only for a man of great endurance who cares not how 
soon he works out the mine of youth and health ; and 
even such a one had better let it alone unless the 



SPECIAL MODES OF HUNTING. 247 

ground be too noisy to still-hunt and he must have 
a deer. 

How far this plan would work with antelope if fol- 
lowed on horseback I cannot say. All the antelope it 
has been my lot to meet were very wild, made nearly 
half a day's journey at the first run, and would prob- 
ably have completed the day with another run if I had 
been foolish enough to follow them. They have far 
more endurance than a deer. 

All such modes of hunting as watching water- 
holes, salt-licks, turnip-patches, pine-choppings, etc., 
although literally .^////-hunting, I pass over as involving 
neither knowledge nor skill, except to keep still, hide 
in a tree or in a hole in the ground, or lie flat on the 
leeward side to see the deer when it comes, and avoid 
overshooting it; a thing we will consider under the 
head of shooting. 



248 I- HE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 

At all times of the year and in all countries deer 
are found often in companies. Two yearlings run- 
ning together, a doe and fawns, two or three does 
and a buck, or sometimes two or three bucks together 
are quite as often met with as is a single deer. At 
certain times of the year, however, deer often gather 
into bands of from six to fifteen or twenty-five, and 
in some parts of the country into much larger bands. 
When this occurs and where it is most apt to occur 
is of no consequence even if it were possible to give 
any general rule upon the subject. You will know 
a band quickly enough by the tracks, and one or two 
days' hunting will tell you far better than any rule 
could do it whether they are in bands or not. 

Hunting a band of deer requires, however, some 
special care. When banded, deer range farther than 
when single or in small companies, and shift oftener 
from place to place. They will have perhaps eight or 
ten points of radiation from the general center of 
their range, a basin here, a valley there, in another 
place a meadow, surrounded with brush perhaps, here 
another basin, there a rocky ridge, etc. Each one of 
these may be half a mile or even much more from the 
next one, and from half a mile to two or three miles 
from the general center. All are certain to contain 
food and probably water. Each one of these places 



DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 249 

will be connected with the others by trails, upon 
which the deer will be almost sure to travel in passing 
from one to another. In any one of these places they 
may pass several days, and may also pass only one 
day even when undisturbed. The general center may 
be some unusually choice feeding-ground, or the only 
spring for many miles, or may be one of those pecu- 
liar spots that deer often take a special fancy to with- 
out any apparent reason. A band of antelope act 
about the same way, but upon a vastly larger scale. 

To this general center a band of deer may come 
every night for several nights, or may come for two 
or three successive nights; and then stay away for 
several nights, especially if scared away from it. 

Deer acting thus are in many respects harder to 
hunt than when single or in small companies. The 
prospects of making a good bag when you do find 
them are much better than when they are scattered, 
especially when on ground where you can get above 
them or ahead of them. But the prospects of any 
one day being a blank day are also much stronger 
than when hunting scattered deer. Unless you take 
a whole day to it and find out just where they are in 
time to get "the evening hunt" on them, you will 
often discover only where they are not. And this dis- 
covery you may make just too late to go where they 
are. For unless you find fresh tracks at the general 
center which you can follow back, it will often use up 
the best hunting-hours of the whole morning to find 
where they were last night. And this will sometimes 
be the case when you find the tracks at once in the 
morning. For you cannot safely follow such tracks 
back rapidly, but must be keeping a constant watch 
for the game. And if you once start the band it is 



250 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

quite apt to make a long run; and it will be several 
days before it returns to that part of its beat. There 
are also so many more ears to hear you, so many 
more eyes to see you and noses to smell you, and 
some are always watching. They may be scattered 
about over one acre, or over ten or more, and if one 
starts he generally carries the rest along in a general 
stampede. To stalk a band requires in fact more 
caution than to stalk a single deer, although your 
chances of catching sight of game are much greater in 
case of a band. 

A troublesome question often arises what to do when 
in tracking a band you see a deer. It may be only a 
single deer not belonging to the band. It may be one 
of the band, and the nearest one to you. Or it may 
be the farthest one off, and a dozen more may be 
standing around in brush or lying down between you 
and it. If it is within fair shot you should make sure 
of it unless it is too small or poor, etc. For nowhere 
is the maxim " A bird in the hand is worth two in 
the bush" more true than in huntingdeer or antelope. 
There may be more near by, and the attempt to see 
them may alarm the whole. Even antelope can lie on 
quite level ground between you and one standing up 
without your suspecting it, and if you raise your head 
an inch more to look for them you may alarm the one 
you can easily make sure of. But if the one you see 
is too far off for a certain shot it may be bad policy 
to shoot at it at once without waiting to see what is 
closer by. What to do then must depend upon many 
considerations. If the ground will allow closer ap- 
proach without getting in sight or wind of game or 
making too much noise, it is better to get nearer. If 
it is at the time of day when the game is moving 



DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 351 

about and the nearer ones will be likely to move in 
sight it may be best to lie still for a while and watch. 
If at a time when they are likely to be lying down it 
may be better to shoot at the one you see, as the 
others may not move again for hours; the one you 
see may be the only one on foot ; and even that one 
may lie down at any minute. If early in the after- 
noon, the ground bad for a running shot, and the one 
you see too far away, it may be best to sit down and 
wait for them to rise toward evening. And all this 
may be changed by the fact that they are moving 
from place to place and the brush prevents your see- 
ing the rest of the band. For deer can feed along 
through brush quite low and thin without your see- 
ing them unless you are well above them. 

Banded deer may deceive you very much in your 
estimate of the number of deer about. They then do 
so much more moving than when single that they will 
track up an immense amount of ground in such a 
way that you would fully believe there were at least 
twenty deer where there were not over six or eight. 
And even two miles square of ground may be so 
tracked up by a restless band that one would declare 
deer very plenty, when in fact they may be scarce, the 
next band being two or three miles away and the 
whole average being only two to the square mile. A 
band will occasionally keep quite still for several days 
or weeks. But the rule is the other way. 

In shooting into a band in rough or brushy ground 
you are very apt to get demoralized. You should 
shoot just as deliberately as at any time, not hurry- 
ing in the least because you see other deer than the 
one you are shooting at. And, above all, you should 
keep account of every deer struck, whether it fell or 



252 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

ran off and which way it ran, etc. Otherwise you 
will be very apt to lose them. Do not show yourself 
until through shooting, and do not allow yourself to 
be tempted to do so by seeing them move off. Even 
if they go off running you had better not show your- 
self unless you can make a cut-off. 

There are some general hints that apply equally to 
single deer and banded ones which may as well be 
considered here. 

In going after a particular deer or band of deer 
you need not listen to any gabble of settlers, herds- 
men, teamsters, and others who tell you they always 
see them at such a place, see them there every day, 
etc. etc. etc. The fact generally is that they see them 
about once in four or five days or a week, which is 
probably as often as the man goes there, and which 
he calls "every day." This is just about the time it 
takes them to return to that part of the range when 
once driven away. A man going to that place once 
in five or six days will generally stand the same 
chance of seeing the deer that a man does who goes 
there every day. You should generally go to the 
place toward which they ran if you go within two or 
three days after they were seen. 

When deer run into a high brushy hill-side and dis- 
appear, wait and watch for several minutes. Even a 
single deer is liable to come to an opening and stand 
a minute for a look, and some one of a band is very 
apt to do so. 

If you are near a water-hole or bit of choice feeding- 
ground and see a deer's head and neck come peering 
over an adjacent ridge, unless you are sure he sees 
you or he is close enough for a sure shot, keep per- 
fectly still. This is very apt to be a survey for danger 







^ 3. 



DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 5^53 

before coming in to water or feed. And if he backs 
off instead of coming ahead don't be in too much 
haste to go after him, for he may be coming around 
by a trail or down the next ravine. 

Though deer can go without water, especially when 
the browse is wet with dews or fogs or rain, yet in hot 
weather, especially in the dry countries, they are very 
fond of it. Hence if you can find the only water-hole for 
a long distance, and camp so close to it as to keep the 
deer away from it for a night or two, you will be very 
apt to find them hanging about in the close vicinity 
in the morning waiting for a chance to come in. This 
is vastly better than watching the water all night and 
crippling one or two with an uncertain shot, or pot- 
shooting them with a shot-gun. I have never tried 
it, but a friend of mine, who is otherwise an excellent 
hunter, does it with great success, and considers it 
almost sure. 

Antelope generally, if not always, water by day, and 
cannot, when on dry feed or sun-cured grass, go with- 
out water as long as deer can. But much more care 
must be used in watching for them. You must be 
better hid and be in such position that no motion is 
necessary before shooting. If you cannot hide, the 
best way to wait for either deer or antelope to come 
close enough after they once come in sight is to He 
fiat on your face or back and not move a muscle until 
you are ready to shoot. Then if they are certain to 
see you anyhow, jump as quickl}^ as you can. But 
otherwise move slowly and make no noise, as you may 
in this way get standing shots instead of only running 
ones, as may be the case where they see you or you 
have to move quickly. 

When game has once seen you it is of little use to 



354 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

drop or back out of sight and try to sneak around 
after it. It is quite apt to leave as soon as you get 
out of sight. Even the little cotton-tail rabbit, when 
at all wild, has an idea that this proceeding means 
mischief, and both deer and antelope are generally so 
deeply impressed with that idea that in such case you 
should risk a much longer shot than when the game 
does not see you. If too far off and you have a com- 
panion at hand, leave him for the game to watch while 
you go around. 

When you see game at a long distance, before you 
start off to make a detour for it wait long enough to 
find out what it is doing. It may see you and leave 
as above shown, and if it is to leave it had better leave 
while you can see it and know where it is going, etc. 
Or it may be feeding on a course, in which case it may 
be best to first learn its course. Or it may be stand- 
ing around preliminary to lying down, in which case 
you have plenty of time and will be quite certain of a 
shot. Or it may be merely stopping an instant on a 
long walk, in which case you do not want to sneak on 
the vacant place, but want to know where it is going. 

Of the many idle theories among hunters about 
deer there is one that demands some attention because 
there is really some truth in it, or, rather, it is truth 
wrongly stated. This is what is called the " moon 
theory." It is stated in various ways, but the sub- 
stance of it is that when the moon is above the hori- 
zon during the day and when it is directly opposite 
the zenith deer are on foot feeding, etc. When the 
moon is above the horizon during most of the day it 
is not much above it during the night. If in the last 
quarter or in the first quarter, it is above the horizon 
more during the day than at night. Consequently so 



DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 355 

much of the night is dark that the deer do much less 
roaming then than about the full moon, when it is 
light all night. The more roaming they do at night 
the less they do by day or, rather, in the first half of 
the day. But deer are generally on foot about as 
early in the afternoon during full moon as at any 
other time, and often earlier, because they lie down so 
much earlier in the morning. Now if the moon is in 
the first or second quarter it will be above the horizon 
only in the early part of the night. The latter half of 
the night being dark the deer will feed more after 
daylight, at which time the moon will generally be 
somewhere about our antipodes or opposite the zenith. 
So when the moon is in the last quarter it will be still 
above the western horizon about the time the deer, 
having lain down early in the morning, rise again to 
feed in the afternoon. The whole of which amounts 
to this, that the lighter the night the longer the deer 
wiir roam at night, and the more they move at night 
the less they will move in the first half of the day. 

Beware of selling out future chances too cheap. 
Suppose you are camped at a certain place and 
toward evening find fresh tracks leading into a nice 
little brushy basin or valley or some place that you 
cannot hunt to advantage before dark or on account 
of the wind or other cause. Should you go after the 
game and start it the chances may be all against your 
getting even a running shot. And it may run a mile 
or more, so that it would take you all next day to find 
it. It may in such case be better to leave the game 
alone that night and be there at daylight in the morn- 
ing. The same may be the case with a band or a sin- 
gle deer that you actually see. If it is too far off or 
too dark to shoot to advantage your chances may be 



256 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

bettered by leaving the game undisturbed until day- 
light. 

When hunting you may often be puzzled in high 
mountains by finding on top of the ridges plenty of 
tracks and trails running in all directions, with plenty 
of beds, droppings, etc. Yet with your utmost care 
you will not discover a deer. This is quite apt to be 
the case where the ridge is much less than five hun- 
dred yards or so in width, and often so when it is even 
wider than that. The reason is that the deer are on 
the ridge only at night, using it mainly to cross from 
side to side, spending nearly all the daylight down the 
slopes and ravines far below the top. Where these 
slopes and the sides of the ravines are very steep such 
ground is hardly worth hunting, as it is too much 
work to get a dead deer out of them. The best moun- 
tain-hunting is in the valleys or basins or along gentle 
slopes and ridges. 

The noises made by a deer are of little importance. 
The bleat is much like that of a sheep, but generally 
shorter. The snort is a hollow whistling " phew" 
often long drawn. You will quickly enough know 
either one the first time you hear it. The cry of the 
fawns and their mothers' call the hunter has no busi- 
ness to know anything about. 

Of slight importance are the distinctive colors of 
the deer's coat, " the red coat," " the blue," '* the 
gray," etc. You must watch all colors at all times, 
for a deer may show any one of these shades at almost 
any time according to the part you see of him and the 
way the light strikes it, etc. etc. The blue and gray 
coat are always the same as far as hunting is con- 
cerned; for nothing from light gray to black can be 
neglected. Red is the summer coat; the others the 



DEER IN BANDS. GENERAL HINTS, ETC. 257 

fall and winter coats. In the mule-deer of California 
the red is often a dirty yellow or ocher color. 

When in timber, especially timber with low-hang- 
ing branches, do not forget that a deer can see your 
legs and leave before you can see anything of him. 
You must stoop frequently in such ground. The 
same is the case in descending a tree-covered hill into 
a valley or basin. If you have any reason to believe 
there is game in it, enter it if possible from the lowest 
point you can find. And in general, when hunting a 
valley with sloping sides clad with timber, keep in the 
lowest part of it (a creek-bed or other depression if 
possible) that will give you the best view beneath the 
trees. 

It may sometimes be best to purposely give deer 
your wind; as where they are lying in a basin or 
windfall and will have to run up hill, and it would be 
too long a shot for you if you should keep on one 
hill-side and try to start them by sight of you or by 
noise, in which case they would be certain to run up 
the opposite side. And even when deer are on foot 
the formation of the ground may be such that your 
chances of hitting one running up the side while you 
are in the center would be better than the chances of 
getting a good standing shot from either side. 

Should you see cattle or horses on your hunting- 
ground be careful not to alarm them, as they will be 
apt to stampede all game within hearing of their 
hoofs. No other animals, nor even birds, should be 
unnecessarily alarmed when game is near. Both deer 
and antelope know what alarm of other animals 
means. 



268 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 

The popular idea of the effect of a bullet upon a 
deer or antelope is about like a woman's idea of the 
effectof shooting in general; viz., instantaneous death 
of the thing shot at. Few persons who have not 
tried it would ever dream that after hours of pa- 
tient toil, and a shot fired with perfect coolness and 
accuracy, the glossy prize that you just now so fondly 
imagined yours beyond a doubt may be suddenly 
resolved into the most slippery intangibility on earth, 
and that the hunt instead of ending has in reality only 
commenced. Yet such with wild deer is the case 
about one third of the time, and on open ground, 
where longer shots must be taken than in the woods, 
it may be so quite as often even with pretty tame 
deer. 

This provoking feature is, moreover, becoming more 
and more common. Time was in all the States of the 
Union when a good cool shot armed with a rifle shoot- 
ing a bullet scarcely larger than a pea could shoot a 
hundred deer in succession without ten of them run- 
ning over two hundred yards before falling dead. 
And these ten would not go over four hundred or 
five hundred yards. And the greater number would 
fall either in their tracks or in sight of the hunter. 
The reason of this is as simple as anything in the 
world. Deer were then so tame that the great majority 



TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 259 

would ekher stand and look at the hunter without 
running at all, or if they did run would go only a few 
yards and stop. The greater number would stand 
broadside to the hunter inside of seventy yards' dis- 
tance; the hunter was a cool deliberate shot; the rifle 
was perfect in its accuracy to that distance; and 
therefore the ball was always, like the stock of the 
Credit Mobilier, " piaced where it would do the most 
good." And deer were then so plenty that the hunter 
was sure of one or more such shots in a very short 
time. So easy was it then to pick such shots that the 
old-time hunter rarely thought of such a thing as 
shooting at a deer much beyond a hundred yards, or 
at one running, or at one that showed only the rear 
half of his body. He nearly always waited for a sure 
shot at the point of the shoulder or just behind it, 
reaching the heart almost invariably; though he 
often shot deer in the head. 

But it is scarcely necessary to say that that day is 
past. There are yet a few places where deer are still 
tame. But the deer of the period is not an animal in 
which a ball can be placed where you wish to place it. 
And the antelope of the period is still less so, as he 
must be shot at longer distances, and on more or less 
windy plains that affect the aim of the hunter and the 
flight of the ball. Not only are the wildest regions of 
our country now penetrated by hunters, but since the 
general use of breech-loading rifles — many of them 
poor ones, many of the best ones being kept so dirty 
and rusty that they will hit nothing, all of them tend- 
ing by their rapidity of fire to make careless shooting 
the rule — there is five times the amount of shooting at 
and scaring game that there used to be from an equal 
number of hunters carrying rifles that never threw 



360 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

" a wild ball," and that were so slow to load that every 
shot was fired as if it were the last ball within fifty 
miles. 

For these reasons the deer and antelope of the pe- 
riod are vastly different animals from those that used 
to pose in sculpturesque attitudes about fifty yards 
away from Daniel Boone, David Crockett, and others. 
One third of them must be shot at, at distances that 
the old-time hunter would have considered too far. 
And here I refer not to what are considered long-range 
distances, such as three hundred to six hundred 
yards, but to one hundred and fifty to two hundred 
yards; distances at which the old-time hunter passed 
scornfully by the biggest old buck with the feeling of 
full confidence of soon seeing another at less than half 
that distance. Another third of them must be now 
shot while running; a shot that the old-time hunter 
with his long heavy rifle, with its long-horned nui- 
sance of a crescent-shaped scoop in the butt, with its 
hammer invariably upon the cap, and its trigger — that 
could not be pulled without setting it — unset, rarely 
thought of even attempting. The other third still 
present good shots and may be nearly always killed in 
their tracks or within a hundred yards of the place 
where struck. 

When we come to analyze rifle-shooting you will 
conclude that I tell the exact truth when 1 assert, as I 
do most positively, that the man who talks of placing 
a ball where he wishes to place it in a running deer or 
antelope at any distance, or at one standing beyond a 
hundred and fifty yards, is either an ignoramus or a 
braggart who takes his listener for a bigger fool than 
he is himself. I draw the following principles not 
from my own experience only, but from that of the 




3 -5 



M >^ 



ba C <u 



H 



(U <LI <« 



TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. ^61 

very best shots I have ever seen, men whom I believe 
it almost impossible to excel; and when we come to 
analyze shooting I will try to prove them from indis- 
putable principles: 

ist. To hit a running deer in any part oi the body at 
any distance is a first-class shot. 

2d. To hit at a hundred and fifty yards anywhere 
within ten inches of the center of the shoulder of a 
standing deer or antelope, or strike the body any- 
where at two hundred yards, is a first-class shot. 

3d. To hit a deer at all at a hundred yards when 
you can see only part of it in brush or among trees 
is a first-class shot. 

4th. To hit one in the vitals at only sixty yards 
when it shows only a small spot of dull color in dark 
heavy timber is a first-class shot. 

It being now impossible to hit the majority of deer 
or antelope where you wish, let us consider the effect 
of bullets upon different parts of the body, and the 
vitality of the animals after being struck. I speak 
now only of the ball in common use, a solid ball of 
about forty-five hundredths of an inch in diameter, 
quite long and generally hardened with tin. 

A shot in the head or spinal column will drop a 
deer in his tracks. A shot through the kidneys or in 
the rectum will nearly always do the same. A shot 
anywhere in a circle of six inches around the point of 
the shoulder will often drop a deer at once, but is 
much more likely to let him run from fifty to two hun- 
dred yards, and sometimes half a mile or more. Shot 
above the center of the shoulders or in the brisket only 
a deer may run for miles. Shot anywhere between 
five inches back of the shoulder and the hams a deer 
may run all day if kept going. Shot in the haunch 



262- THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the deer may run all day, depending upon the veins, 
bones, etc., that are touched by the ball. A deer with 
a hind-leg broken can with ease keep clear of a man 
all day, and with only a fore-leg broken can often run 
away from a dog, unless the dog be a pretty good one. 
The worst of all shots and the most common one in all 
shooting at long standing shots and at game running 
crosswise is what is called the "paunch-shot." Every 
shot from the fifth rib to the hip-joint — nearly half 
the body of the animal — may be practically regarded 
as a " paunch-shot." A deer or antelope can run for 
miles when thus shot, and I have seen a yearling buck 
shot through the center with an ounce round ball 
(solid) run away from a common dog, and escape on a 
fair race of over half a mile. And this, too, on quite 
open ground where the dog had a full view of the 
deer and lost no time in hunting the scent. An ante- 
lope is quite as tough as, if not often tougher than, a 
deer, and the expedition of either animal in getting 
away when half shot to pieces is often amazing. 

It is common to hear people talk as if it were only 
necessary to let a wounded deer alone and it will lie 
down and either die or get sick. This is true enough 
if it be badly wounded and time enough be allowed 
it. But when will it be so sick that it will cease to 
watch upon its back track and either run away before 
you get within shot at all or go plunging through 
brush at your approach and give you a poor running 
shot ? Of course " it is only a question of time;" but 
you will find that sweetly delusive formula very poor 
consolation when night closes in upon you and you 
wish to go somewhere else in the morning, when fall- 
ing snow covers the bloody trail, when it leads into 
heavy windfalls or brush, and on bare ground when 



TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 263 

the blood ceases to flow and the cripple settles to a 
walk on ground where tracking is hard. For the 
tracking of a wounded deer is very different from that 
of a well one. You can tell very nearly where a well 
one will go, and without this knowledge tracking on 
bare ground is often impracticable. But you cannot 
count upon the movements of a wounded deer, except 
that generally he will run to the roughest and most 
brushy ground there is within reach. The number of 
deer lost on bare ground by the best of trackers and 
good shots is almost incredible to those who have not 
hunted and associated much with them. And even 
on snow many are lost. 

One means of remedying this loss of game — the 
use of a rifle-ball that will effectually stop anything 
struck anywhere in the body — I shall point out in a 
subsequent chapter. But no rifle will kill a deer at 
once by hitting a leg unless very high up; and there- 
fore every hunter who can should have a good dog at 
his heels. 

A really good dog to overtake and stop a wounded 
deer is hard to get, and harder still to keep. There are 
enough that can do it, but they will spoil more shots 
for you than they save deer. Little or no training is 
required, as a dog that is at all fit for the purpose will 
take to it naturally. But he should be trained and 
kept in absolute obedience about remaining behind 
until sent out, even though a wounded deer be escap- 
ing before his eyes. As such dogs have generally 
more or less of some headstrong and intractable blood 
in their composition this is no easy matter to do; and 
as the average hunter is always in agony when he 
sees anything toothsome escaping, and is always blind 
to the fact that a dog can follow a trail in one or two 



264 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

minutes just as well as instantly, the average deer-dog 
of the period, like the retriever of the average hunter 
with the shot-gun, always starts like a rocket at the 
report of the gun. And having learned this, the next 
step in his education quite naturally follows; namely, 
running in without waiting for you to shoot. 

The first thing to do when a deer is wounded is 
generally to do nothing. If he runs in a direction 
where you can head him off and get another shot, it 
is generally advisable to do so; but if he has not seen 
you, and you have to run so that he will see you, you 
had better not show yourself at all unless he is mak- 
ing for thick brush and you can get another shot at 
him before he reaches it. It is generally far better to 
drop quietly out of sight and watch him. 

The action of a deer when wounded depends largely 
upon where he is hit, but mainly upon whether he has 
seen you or not, and also upon his wildness. If not 
very wild, and he has not yet seen you, he will gener- 
ally take a few jumps, perhaps not more than one or 
two, then walk a few yards, stand still a while and look 
around, and then lie down. If he has seen you, or 
knows pretty well what the crack of a gun means, he 
may run several hundred yards before stopping, and 
then, after taking several backward looks and walking 
a little, will lie down. If jumped and shot on the 
run, he will probably run much farther than if shot 
when standing and suspecting no danger. If near 
brush or rough ground, a deer will be quite apt to 
make for it if he sees you, and so certain to if pursued 
that if you cannot make a good cut-off your only 
chance of keeping him from the brush is to let him 
entirely alone ; he may then lie down before he 
reaches it. A deer only leg-broken will travel much 



TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 265 

farther before lying down than if hit in the body, and 
will generally stand up longer under a paunch-shot 
than under any other shot in the body, though, if let 
alone, will soon lie down with this. Sometimes deer 
will start off on a walk and go a mile or so to brush 
without stopping, and sometimes will plunge ahead 
on a full run until they fall either stone dead or from 
sheer exhaustion. 

It would be of no use to waste further space in de- 
tailing specifically the various maneuvers of a wound- 
ed deer, for those above given include nearly all kinds, 
and the same general plan of handling must be fol- 
lowed in all cases. And this is — 

ist. No matter how sick the deer may appear to be, 
no matter how he staggers, bleeds, or looks like drop- 
ping immediately, shoot at him just as long as he 
stands up. Do not be afraid of spoiling meat or hide, 
for as long as he can keep afoot you are in danger of 
losing both, or having a troublesome time to get them. 
Do the same when he is down, if he can hold up his 
head or his eyes are bright, unless his back is broken. 

2d. If he goes off, let him go (unless, as before 
stated, you can head off or flank him), and for several 
hours do nothing to disturb him. If it is near night 
you had better let him go until next morning. If he 
is badly hurt he will probably never rise after lying 
down a while, and at all events is likely to get so sick 
and stiff as to be quite easy of approach. But if fol- 
lowed up at once he will be watching, and unless very 
much hurt will be too keen and too lively for you. 

3d. On taking his track to follow him up, proceed 
just as you would on a well deer, and don't go blun- 
dering and thrashing carelessly along because you see 
blood or signs of stumbling or staggering. If you 



266 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

find the blood increasing on the trail you may expect 
to find him dead, or very nearly so. But if it is de- 
creasing it may need all your care to secure him. 

Most of this caution is often needless, especially on 
snow and with a rifle of large caliber. But I have 
given it on the plan I have followed throughout — 
giving best and surest methods. You will rarely lose 
one by following too closely these rules, though they 
may of course sometimes cause you unnecessary delay. 
Where falling snow will hide the track, your only 
chance is often to follow at once. 

Excited by the sight of blood and signs of stumb- 
ling, burning with anxiety to retrieve the game, and 
impatient of any delay, one is almost certain at first 
to rush ahead after a crippled deer. But you must 
remember that (except heading, etc.) all means of 
pursuit, the trail, the blood, etc., if any, will generally 
be just as available in four or six hours, perhaps even 
the next day, as they are right after shooting. By 
waiting you generally lose nothing. By not waiting 
you may lose all. 

Nor is it always advisable to slip a dog at once, if 
you have one by you. For the sake of keeping him 
in good habits, he should never be allowed to start 
from your side for a moment or two, or until you give 
the word. And even then it is not always best to let 
him go until you get some idea of how the deer is 
wounded, and how far he will run. If he is likely to 
lie down soon it may be folly to slip your dog; for a 
deer that would lie down in two minutes and never 
get up if left alone may run for miles if kept going, 
and even if your dog be swift and sure he may run 
the deer into thick brush or some bad ground where 
it will bother you to get him out. Moreover, the 



TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 267 

flesh may be badly bloodshot or the contents of the 
intestines worked all through the interior by a chase. 
But if a deer is only leg-broken, as a rule the sooner 
you let out your dog the better, for it is likely to be a 
long chase, and the deer should have as little start as 
possible. 

On falling snow when you have no dog, and there 
is danger of the track getting covered or confused 
with other tracks, you may perhaps overtake and get 
another shot at a deer by a stern-chase yourself. This 
is a job, however, which I would recommend you to 
sublet before you commence, as it is very exhausting 
and vexatious. A wounded deer, if not too badly 
hurt, will watch back, and will be quite sure to see 
you first, and if kept going can run well. 

It is far better, even in falling snow, to wait a 
little while, and when you get in sight of a place 
where the cripple is likely to stop go around and 
come in from one side or behind, as in tracking a 
wild well one. 

I once saw a big strong man who was hunting 
quails beside me drop like a sledge-struck ox at the 
report of a comrade's gun some ninety yards behind 
us in the brush, clap his hand to his head, and ex- 
claim in agony, " O my God!" He still lives, in 
Monmouth County, New Jersey; for the only wound 
we could find on him was a grain of No. 8 shot in 
the lobe of one ear, which our comrade who did the 
mischief, now a prominent lawyer in Jersey City, 
picked out with the point of his pen-knife. Other 
men shot half to pieces have fought like tigers or run 
like deer a long while before they fairly knew they 
were hit. Individuals among deer and antelope dif- 
fer about the same way in vitality. I have seen a big 



268 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

buck drop in his tracks and lie there with the sarr^c 
bullet-hole in the same place that another and smaller 
deer has carried for miles without falling. And I 
have seen an old buck antelope run ninety yards on 
as beautiful and almost as swift a trot as St. Julien 
ever made on the race-track, with both heart and lungs 
cut into perfect pulp by a .65 expansive ball with two 
hundred grains of powder behind it, and which would 
probably make the next one wilt like a wet rag in its 
tracks. Therefore if you happen to kill your first half- 
dozen or even dozen deer in their tracks or in your 
sight, do not delude yourself with the idea that there 
is no danger of deer escaping your rifle, but always 
use the same care above advised. 

If a deer runs any distance and then falls he is 
pretty sure to be dead. But be sure that \\t falls, for 
if he runs and lies down it may need all your care to 
get him. If he falls at the report of the gun and 
then gets up and runs it generally means hard work 
and care to bag him. Therefore it is best always 
when a deer drops at once to run directly to him if 
there are no other deer at hand. Especially do you 
need to run if he struggles to get up, even though he 
fails ; for a deer often recovers himself for a while, 
even when mortally wounded, being badly stunned at 
first, then getting over that and getting away to die 
afterward. But do not let a deer see you running to 
him if you can help it, and if near enough always give 
a struggling one another shot without going up to it, 
as the sight of you often revives one wonderfully. 

How to manage a deer when killed is a matter in 
which your natural tact, as well as information from 
any woodsman, hunter, or settler, will serve you suf- 
ficiently well that for brevity I shall omit the most of 



TO MANAGE A DEER WHEN HIT. 269 

what I could say about it, and by the time you have 
killed a few deer you will readily pardon me for spend- 
ing most of my time in telling you how to shoot one 
instead of what to do with it after being shot. 

Nevertheless there are just a few points that I will 
mention by way of saving you needless work. 

It is considered style to charge on a fallen deer with 
a " hunting-knife" and " cut its throat." All the hunt- 
ing-knife you need is a common round-pointed jack- 
knife. Everything else is a nuisance except as a 
butcher-knife or cleaver at camp. If the deer is not 
dead, finish him with a ball in the head, and let his 
throat alone or you may get in sudden trouble. If 
he is dead his throat needs no cutting, as a dead ani- 
mal bleeds only a trifle from the throat. If you mean 
to open him at once you can give him no better bleed- 
ing than opening. If you wish to run on for another 
deer, stick the dead one in the chest and turn him 
with head down hill. 

Covering up a deer with brush, snow, etc., especially 
if you leave some article of clothing upon it, will 
protect it from all animals and birds about as well as 
hanging up, unless you hang it very high. And this 
latter is no easy thing for one person to do, unless he 
packs a hatchet to cut forked sticks with large enough 
to prop up a good sapling. But with two such sticks, 
one being longer than the other, a bent sapling with 
a deer fastened to it can, by working them alternately, 
be run up quite high. Hanging by the head protects 
from birds but exposes the hams to animals, and vice 
versa. The inner bark of the basswood makes good 
rope, but the skin of the lower part of the deer's legs 
cut in strips is better and easier to get. This is also 
good to tie a deer to the rings of the saddle-girth. 



270 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

The best way to get one home if you cannot reach 
it with a wagon is on a horse. Lay it behind the sad- 
dle and lash firmly to the girth rings or buckles; or it 
may be tied to his tail and dragged. A deer may be 
dragged very easily on snow, dead leaves, or dry grass 
by being pulled head first; and by throwing away 
neck and head, skinning and cutting up the fore- 
quarters and packing them in their skin, fastening 
the edges of the skin together by running a string 
through holes in each, the whole thing may be made 
into quite a nice sledge. But in very bad ground the 
best way to get a deer out is to let him take himself 
out. I have let many a one go unshot at in such 
places. It is a far greater thing to boast of than to 
bring out the saddles or a hind-quarter, leaving the 
rest to waste. 



THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 271 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST, 

The great difficulty in killing any sort of game with 
a single ball is that a miss is as good as a mile. To 
remedy this the scattering principle of the shot-gun 
was introduced. And the success of this depends 
upon a principle directly opposite to the fundamental 
principle of the rifle; to wit, that a miss is as good as a 
hit. That is, the true center of the charge never need 
exactly cover the game. And as a matter of fact it 
probably does not once in a hundred times, even when 
the gun is the hands of the very best shots. 

The consequence of this is that the same aim that 
with a shot-gun would suffice to kill a thousand suc- 
cessive pigeons at twenty yards would not suffice to 
even touch one out of a thousand at twenty yards 
with a rifle-ball. 

This fact is soon learned by a little target-practice 
w^ith the rifle. The beginner finds that mere ap- 
proximation, however near, will not do. Absolute 
accuracy only will suffice. But the beginner when he 
becomes a skilled target-shot finds when he first tries 
his rifle on game that the difference between shooting at 
game and at a target is as antipodal as the poles of the 
universe. The confidence with which he sets out to 
hunt is soon engulfed in amazement at the almost 
unappeasable appetite that lead exhibits for empty 
space. And this is the case upon any game. I have 



272 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

seen a friend who could cut the spots of a playing- 
card at twenty yards almost without fail for a long 
series of shots miss almost every shot at the heads of 
squirrels in trees not twenty yards high. And this was 
not because of excitement, but from causes I shall 
hereafter mention, such as overshooting, varying 
play of light on sights, dimness of marks, etc. 

The insatiable appetite of lead for circumambient 
space becomes still more marvelous when it is fired 
at large game. Fire twenty shots at a target as care- 
lessly as you please with a shot-gun, and you will 
find about every load scattered quite evenly around 
the bull's-eye. You may of course notice that the 
bull's-eye is not exactly in the center; but it is so nearly 
so that if the charge of shot had been a solid mass it 
would have hit every time within two or three inches 
of the center. This is, however, more apparent than 
real. Now what could be more reasonable than to 
suppose that the same aim with a rifle at a deer at 
fifty or sixty yards would surely hit him somewhere ? 
The rifle is far more accurately sighted than a shot- 
gun; it shoots far more accurately; you look at the 
sights and see them plainly on the body of the ani- 
mal; there is a margin of ten or twelve inches for 
possible error; a clear miss seems impossible. Yet a 
person shooting a rifle as he would a shot-gun can 
miss twenty successive deer standing broadside at 
only forty yards with about the same ease and cer- 
tainty that he could hit them with a shot-gun. For a 
whole year the very best target-shots will at seventy- 
five yards probably miss more deer than they hit; 
and at a hundred and fifty yards the very best game- 
shots will always do the same: and all this without any 
"buck-ague" or nervousness entering into the ques- 



THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 273 

tion. This of course would not be so if the game 
were always in the same position, light, etc., and 
always standing full broadside. But as deer are gene- 
rally seen it would be so. 

You have already seen how a deer can be " too 
close," And now you can understand why overcon- 
fidence producing a little lack of care in aiming can 
make you miss a deer within a stone's throw. And 
beware that you do not forget this, for even old and 
good shots are often deceived by a deer being " too 
close," Think it over and sing it over every time 
you start for the woods. And I recommend as a very 
suitable line for this purpose, 

" Thou art so near and yet so far." 

In almost every miss you make for the first season 
or so, and in nearly all cases where the game is missed 
because of being "too close," your bullet goes above 
the game. This tendency to overshoot is the most 
universal and ineradicable error that exists in the 
whole range of hunting with the rifle. As I shall re- 
cur to it again, I will now merely sum up the cases in 
which it is likely to be done, discussing only a few of 
them in detail. And most of them will suggest their 
own remedy. 

ist. All cases of the least carelessness in aiming, 
whether from haste, overconfidence, or nervousness. 
This results from catching with the eye too much of 
the front sight. 

2d. Having the rifle sighted to a point beyond what 
is commonly called its natural point blank, thus 
carrying the ball above intermediate points. 

3d. Over-estimating distance of game and pur- 
posely shooting higher than is really necessary. 



274 THE STILL.HUNTER. 

4th. Having a dull front sight not easily seen. 

5th. Shooting toward the sun. 

6th. The sun lighting up the base of the front sight 
instead of the tip, so that you take too coarse a sight 
by mistaking the base for the tip. 

7th. Shooting in insufficient light, especially at 
night. 

8th. Shooting at a dim mark. 

9th. Too much reflection of light from the back 
sight, thus blurring your view of the front sight. 

loth. The varying play of light and shade upon 
open sights, making it almost impossible under con- 
stantly changing amounts and direction of light to 
always catch precisely the same amount of the front 
sight. 

nth. Ocular aberration upon the front sight, or 
the impossibility of measuring with the eye always 
the same exact amount of the front sight, even where 
the light, etc., is always the same. 

i2th. Shooting down hill. This may be partly 
from having the light strike more directly upon the 
back of the front sight so that the base is mistaken for 
the tip. But it is more because the apparent center- 
line of the animal's body is thus raised above the real 
center-line by the line of sight striking obliquely. In 
this way a shot four inches too high, that if fired on a 
level may still hit a deer, when fired from an angle of 
forty degrees or more above him may just clear his 
back. This error is very hard to avoid. 

13th. Up-hill shots when very long and you attempt 
to allow for distance. When short there is little or 
no trouble. 

Besides overshooting there are errors enough that 
you can make. As soon as you begin to correct 



THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 275 

that error you will be troubled some with under- 
shooting. 

This will be caused by — 

ist. Fear of overshooting causing you to take too 
fine a sight at distances where you have learned that 
it is unsafe to attempt to allow for the drop of your 
bullet, because of the liability to overestimate dis- 
tance. This you can never entirely overcome. There 
is a certain point at which the ball if fired on a level 
will certainly drop below the game. And yet the 
only safe rule for shooting at that point in cases of 
doubt whether to shoot higher or not is to resolve 
the doubt always and instantly in favor of the level 
sights. This will insure the most hits, but will neces- 
sarily cause some misses. 

2d. Not understanding how far your rifle shoots on 
a line practically level, and holding a fine level sight 
on game that is plainly too far beyond the point blank. 

3d. Very long shots down a steep hill. This is 
partly from underestimating the distance of the ob- 
ject aimed at from the foot of a line dropped per- 
pendicularly from the rifle to center of earth, a thing 
we are very apt to do on a long steep hill. It may 
also be that the coincidence of gravitation with the 
downward motion of the ball increases the ratio of 
its fall. 

4th. Underestimatingdistance over water, over clear 
snow, and across a deep valley with a broad bottom. 
These three with the long down-hill shot — which is 
analogous to the shot across the deep broad-bottomed 
valley — are about the only cases in which you will 
underestimate distance. And you will be troubled 
little with them until after the beginning of a re- 
action from overestimating. 



276 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

You will also be apt at first to shoot at the middle 
of your game. Should you hit it there you will then 
have a long and perhaps futile hunt for it unless shot 
with a very large or expansive ball. You should aim 
either directly at the shoulder or just behind it; and 
in either case low down. About one third of the dis- 
tance up the body is the right point. In the shoulder 
is the better place to shoot your game with a small 
ball, provided it has enough penetration. Just behind 
the shoulder is the better place for a ball that lacks 
penetration. Behind the shoulder a ball damages 
less meat by settling of blood. On the other hand, 
a trifling error in placing a small ball too far back or 
too high may allow your game to run a mile or more 
and even escape you entirely. The same might be 
the case with a shoulder-shot, but the same amount of 
variation would not be so apt to let the game escape 
as in case of a shot back of the shoulder. 

Beware how you shoot unnecessarily through thick 
brush and twigs at any considerable distance. A 
pointed ball is especially bad for such shooting, as a 
small twig may set it wabbling and thus deflect it, 
whereas a round or flat-headed ball would cut it off 
without turning. This often spoils long shots in the 
woods. 

But after all, the most important point is never to 
be in a hurry. Fire as you would at a target; that is, 
as coolly and deliberately. Never hasten a second 
because the game shows signs of starting or because 
you think it is going to move, or because there is more 
than one deer or antelope waiting for your bullet. 
Place no dependence upon speed of fire. No matter 
how many shots you can fire or how fast you can fire 
them, shoot every ball just as if it were your last one. 



THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 377 

After you acquire some experience in shooting at game 
you will learn to shoot quicker and in a way that to a 
bystander would appear as if you took a careless aim. 
But the carelessness is apparent only and not real. It 
is quick carefulness. But it will not do for any one 
to begin with. 

Many persons who are good off-hand shots scout 
the idea of resting the rifle on anything when shoot- 
ing. This is partly right and partly wrong. On a 
long shot there is no one whose shooting cannot be 
improved by a dead rest; especially if there be any 
considerable cross-wind blowing. For a short distance 
a rest is entirely unnecessary for one of any experience 
in shooting game, unless his nerves be unsettled by 
climbing, running, etc. But the beginner had better 
take a rest even for close shots whenever he can get 
it without making any movement that may alarm the 
game. 

There are different ways of holding the rifle in target- 
shooting. But I think there is but one true way of 
holding it in shooting at game. 

ist. The butt should be against the shoulder and 
not against the muscle of the arm. And where there 
is much recoil it should be firmly pressed to the 
shoulder. 

2d. The head should be held well back and not with 
the nose against the right thumb. If there is much 
recoil to your rifle you will be apt to flinch under fire 
if your nose comes in the way of your thumb. Many 
rifles are, however, so artistically made in the stock 
that the eye can be brought down to the level of the 
sights only by crowding the nose against the thumb. 
Another advantage of holding the head back is that 
the farther the eye is removed from the back sight on 



278 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the barrel the less you will be troubled with any re- 
flection of light from its edges and the clearer will be 
its outlines. 

3d. The left arm should be well extended along the 
barrel so that the elbow makes a very obtuse angle. 
The advantage of this is that the rifle may be thus 
turned more quickly upon the mark; quite an impor- 
tant matter when the mark is moving. But when game 
is standing or you are shooting at a target the ad- 
vantages of this position are not apparent. But as it 
is quicker and better for some kinds of shooting, and 
just as good as any for all kinds, the habit of so hold- 
ing the arm had better be cultivated. 

There are two ways of shooting. 

I St. Shooting with a steady arm. Here the rifle lies 
in the hands almost like a log in mud. It is held fairly 
on the mark and kept there until fired. 

2d. Shooting with an unsteady arm. Here the rifle 
cannot be held still. The front sight will wander 
around, over, under, and across the mark. All the 
shooter can do is to fire when the front sight touches 
the mark in crossing it; generally when coming up from 
below. 

The first way, or shooting with a steady hand, is the 
only way in which first-class shooting can be done; 
for no other mode can be relied upon for a long con- 
tinuance or series of good shots. This is the method 
of all the best, or rather most reliable, shots at game. 
But it must not be supposed that this implies any 
slowness. The rifle need not lie at rest for over half 
a second, and generally does not do so. A good shot 
using this method will appear to shoot even quicker 
than one using the second method. Yet there is a 
short time when the rifle does lie, practically at least. 




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THE RIFLE ON GAME A T REST. 279 

at perfect rest. And during that time, short though 
it be, the trigger is pulled. 

The second way is about the only method available 
to nervous persons. Since being broken down by ill- 
health several years ago I am unable to shoot in any 
other way. It is utterly impossible for me to hold the 
sight at rest on the mark as I once could. By this 
method many shots can be made as well as by the 
first way. But one is liable at any time to send a 
ball flying wild when firing at the easiest kind of a 
mark. And on days when an unusual degree of nerv- 
ousness is present this liability becomes provokingly 
frequent, and is often attended by the still more pro- 
voking trick, also the result of nervousness, of balking 
or flinching at the trigger, giving it a nervous twitch 
either without firing at all or else firing it a yard or 
two off the mark. But whenever the hand of the 
hunter is made unsteady from any cause this is the 
only way to shoot, as it is generally useless to wait for 
the hand to reach its complete natural steadiness. 

A hard trigger may be drawn in three ways. 

ist. By a slow steady pull. This is the best way 
when shooting a very hard trigger with a rest. But 
when shooting off-hand a better way is — 

2d. Resting the finger upon the trigger with about 
two thirds or three quarters of the pressure needed 
for release and then suddenly applying, when the ex- 
act instant arrives, the rest of the necessary pressure. 

3d. Pulling trigger with a jerk, the finger being kept 
off of the trigger until the instant of pulling. This is 
the same as is done with the shot-gun at flying game, 
and is worthless f o • the rifle except for snap-shots. 

There are two Wc^ys of pulling a set trigger. 

ist. Keeping the finger free of it until the exact in- 



280 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

stant arrives and then just touching it. This is the 
only way a very light set can be fired. But a better 
way is to have the set so that it can be just touched 
without releasing it and then-^ 

2d. Allow the finger to merely touch it until the ex- 
act instant comes and then increase the weight of the 
touch. 

Both the set and the hard trigger have their advan- 
tages and disadvantages for a hunting-rifle. Finer 
off-hand shooting can undoubtedly be done with a set 
trigger. But it is too easy for good running shoot- 
ing, especially when there is little time to spare. And 
it is too unsafe with a trigger set to carry the rifle 
cocked even when expecting game to jump. 

The real truth is that hard triggers are generally 
made absurdly hard. For such a promiscuous con- 
glomeration of numbskulls as generally constitutes 
an army a six-pound pull is well enough. With an 
easy pull soldiers would decimate their own ranks more 
than those of the enemy. But for hunting, a pull of 
two pounds or even a pound and a half at the outside is 
safe enough. And in hunting, whatever is unnecessary 
is a nuisance. 

For target-shooting, where the trigger is not set 
until the rifle is raised, a trigger that will not bear 
touching is well enough. Even there I think it unneces- 
sary; but it can do no harm. But for hunting it should 
bear a touch of at least three ounces in weight. 

The best of all is a combination of both ; the hard trig- 
ger being not over one and a half or two pounds' pull, 
and the set bearing a touch of three ounces before going 
off. Then use the hard trigger for all close shots, quick 
shots, and running shots, and the set for all fine shots 
and long shots. 



THE RIFLE ON GAME AT REST. 281 

There are different ways of bringing the sight on 
the mark. But for hunting there is but one true way 
— to raise the rifle from underneath. The experienced 
shot will often apparently fire as it comes to a level. 
And often he will actually do so. But this is because 
long practice has made him automatic in regard to 
care and precision. The beginner must never be be- 
guiled into doing this because it looks smart and 
dashing. The heroes you read of in novels, etc., did 
not begin in that way. Nor do they ever shoot so 
when a very fine shot is to be made. 

On all close shots it is better not to raise the sights 
upon the spot you wish to hit. It is better to see the 
whole above the front sight. Or aim so that you will 
hit the lower edge of the bull's-eye on a target. This 
plan is best because of the danger of overshooting, 
already so great, being increased if the front sight 
should cover the bull's-eye. On a long shot you may 
cover the bull's-eye with the front sight. But on long 
shots as well as short ones the beginner had better 
hold the sight both fine and low, not trusting himself 
to decide what is a long shot until he has seen a good 
many balls fall short of his game. 



282 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 

So vast is the difference between hitting even with 
the shot-gun an object at rest and an object in motion 
that it was many a year after the introduction of 
the shot-scattering system before any one attempted 
much to kill game when in motion. Many men are 
still living who can plainly remember when wing- 
shooting was almost an unknown art, practiced only 
by a few city sportsmen, while the country sportsman 
always waited for the rabbit or quail to stop. Even 
now this art is confined to those who can afford to 
waste plenty of ammunition and have the time and 
opportunity to practice. Even now it is conceded 
that even a moderate proficiency is no easy thing for 
any one to acquire, and for a large number of people 
is a hard thing to acquire. 

If such be the case with a gun that covers with its 
missiles a space of thirty inches, how much greater 
must be the difficulty of doing the same thing with 
a gun whose missile covers only half an inch or even 
less! We have already seen the immense difference 
between the shot-gun and rifle on game at rest. And 
at least the same degree of difference must exist be- 
tween shooting with them game in motion. Such has 
always been believed to be the case, almost all rifle- 
men conceding the difficulties of using the rifle upon 
anything in motion; only a very few of them being 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 283 

able to hit even so large an object as a deer or ante- 
lope when running; and all who talked of shooting 
on the wing with the rifle being classed as braggarts 
who knew nothing at all of shooting. 

The world turned out to be wrOng in its opinion of 
what could not be done with the shot-gun. Is it 
wrong in the opinion it has so long held about the 
capabilities of the rifle? Some advanced people think 
that it is. 

In the winter of 1877-78 there appeared a gentle- 
man whose sudden bound from obscurity to world- 
wide fame, from comparative poverty to comparative 
wealth, merits attention. Probably no man ever be- 
fore won such applause, such notoriety, and so much 
money in so short a time from any exhibition of skill. 
It is safe to say that with either rifle or shot-gun no 
man ever again will do it. 

This gentleman sprang upon the stage with a chal- 
lenge that was at first received with a universal laugh 
of sneering contempt. Those who knew him knew, 
however, what he could do, and he lacked no backers 
in San Francisco. He at once began giving exhibitions 
in California, and demolished glass balls and even ten- 
cent pieces and bits of lead-pencil tossed in the air, and 
did it with an approach to certainty that silenced the 
laugher and turned the scoffer into an admirer. 

He made his way East and from thence to England, 
France, and Germany, amid a storm of applause and 
" gate-money," winning the hearts even of princes and 
dignified old emperors by the rapidity and accuracy 
of his shooting. 

It is not impossible that his success was partly due 
to the romantic story of his life as an Indian captive 
from childhood. This there seems no reason to doubt; 



284 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

and, aided by a fine physique and the tremendous 
power of long hair, flop-hat, buckskins, and badges, 
it possibly went far toward storming the susceptibili- 
ties of our foreign friends as well as the softer sex 
and softer members of the harder sex at home. But 
he certainly did such shooting as would before have 
been by many deemed impossible. 

From his first appearance upon the stage Dr. Car- 
ver has had an enormous amount of practice with the 
rifle. And this he still keeps up. Like all other 
" professional " shots he plays with ammunition by 
the barrelful where an amateur or ordinary hunter 
uses less than a handful. He has all the advantages 
of powerful strength and perfect health, is in the 
prime of life with perfect sight, and was undoubtedly 
one of the best of field-shots before he appeared in 
public; nearly all his life having been passed in the 
field. The rifle has now reached about as high a 
state of perfection as can be expected from it, so far 
as its accuracy at short range and convenience of aim- 
ing are concerned. We are therefore justified in as- 
suming that Dr. Carver can now do with the rifle at 
short range about all that can ever be done with it; 
certainly all that can ever be done with it by any ordi- 
nary amount of practice. 

In 1878, about the time the loudest thunders of ap- 
plause were rolling heavenward; when the words 
"marvelous," "miraculous," " wonderful," "astonish- 
ing," "witchcraft," " sorcery," "jugglery," "sleight of 
hand," etc. etc., echoed from half a million tongues; 
when Eastern editors were vying with each other in 
the effort to determine whether Carver's shooting 
were " instinctive," " intuitive," " innate," or " natural;" 
when Eastern reporters were filling columns with his 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 285 

romantic history, and telling how he could kill more 
birds on the wing with a bullet than most sportsmen 
could with shot, and then winding up with the affecting 
tale of how he "accidentally discovered" his wondrous 
God-given power in trying to bag a bluejay's tail for 
the pretty daughter of an Indian chief, — an obscure in- 
dividual in the mountains of San Diego County, Cali- 
fornia, who had never seen a glass ball, had the 
audacity to think that the crowd was a little too en- 
thusiastic. 

In the columns of the Chicago Field he then took 
the ground that Carver's shooting was neither marvel- 
ous nor extraordinary, but simply new, and hazarded 
the prediction that if there were any profit in it there 
would in a very few months be plenty of successful 
imitators. Carver honored the rural impertinence 
with his most crushing challenge, to which the rustic 
succumbed at once. His prediction was, however, 
quickly verified. Imitators by the score arose, most 
of whom have excelled the best records made by 
Carver during his first six months of glory. And 
before long we began to hear of wonderful boys and 
even wonderful girls that hit glass balls and pennies 
in the air with a rifle. These prodigies are on the in- 
crease. The other day I read of two new cases in one 
paper, neither over ten years of age. 

During all this time it seems not to have occurred to 
the editorial or "scissoring" world that these wonder- 
ful boys and girls may prove two things instead of 
only one thing. According to them the hitting of 
glass balls in air by a child of ten years old proves 
only that the child is a wonderful performer. Is it 
not just possible that it may also prove that the per- 
formance is child's play? 



286 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

The almost universal opinion of Carver's shooting 
was that it settled the long insoluble problem of 
shooting on the wing with the rifle. The majority 
thought that the ability to do this was restricted to 
Carver himself. Others thought that it could be ac- 
quired by imitating his methods, especially that of 
keeping both eyes open while aiming. 

A few now think that the whole thing was a delu- 
sion; that the performance is a very easy one, and 
instead of being marvelous was simply novel; that, the 
novelty being now worn off, the shooting amounts to 
nothing for any practical purpose. But the opinion 
of the great majority is the other way. Thousands^ 
even, of men who use the rifle still believe and long 
will believe that Carver solved the question and discov- 
ered or invented the art of wing-shooting with the rifle. 
Already we have the "champion wing-shot with the 
rifle" by dozens. Already "wing-shooting with the 
rifle" is talked of as a thing of course. And it may 
be safely said that the world in general now believes 
and long will believe that the ability to break glass 
balls in air and blow nickels skyward with the rifle as 
Carver did carries with it of course the ability to 
shoot game on the wing with the rifle. And if such 
small things may be hit, the tripping of the heels of 
such a large object as a deer or antelope follows as a 
mere matter of course. 

It will therefore be worth while to analyze this 
shooting and see just what can and what cannot be 
done by it. We shall then be in a position to under- 
stand the question of shooting running deer. 

At the outset one very significant fact stares us in 
the face, a fact that no one yet seems to have taken 
the slightest notice of. That fact is this: Dr. Carver 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 287 

and all the imitators who have followed him have in 
all their public exhibitions been careful to shoot at no 
pigeons or other birds on the wing, to shoot at no balls 
tossed across the line of fire or at any angle to it, and to 
shoot at nothing in motion when at any distance 
where it would require the most ordinary amount of 
skill to hit the same object if at rest. 

In order to understand clearly let us consider skill 
as of three degrees: 

ist. That skill necessary to hit a three-inch ball at 
rest at ten paces, offhand with open sights. 

2d. That skill necessary to hit at forty paces. 

3d. That skill necessary to hit at seventy paces. 

The first is the very lowest skill necessary for rifle- 
shooting. This may be cultivated in a single day by 
any person male or female of over ten years old, and 
many a boy of eight or nine can hit balls at rest all 
day at that distance upon the first trial. With a little 
practice the ball may be hit at ten paces by almost 
any one without any sights upon the rifle, and with a 
little more practice without even raising the rifle to 
the shoulder. But every one who has ever shot at game 
with the rifle will readily admit that this degree of 
skill is absolutely worthless in the field. This degree 
of skill is attainable by mere sense of direction aided 
by practice. A baseball pitcher with his ball, a team- 
ster with his whip, a boy with the "nigger-shooter" 
or blow-gun can soon learn to hit such a mark nearly 
every time. 

The second degreee of skill, or hitting a three-inch 
mark at forty paces, used to be very ordinary in the 
days of muzzle-loaders. Since the breech-loader has 
so generally come into fashion it has, for reasons 
we shall point out hereafter, become a very respect- 



288 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

able degree of skill. This degree is absolutely neces- 
sary for anything like successful shooting on any 
kind of game however large or close. But it is far 
from being sufficient, and he who can do no better 
will miss in the long-run fully one half of the game he 
shoots at unless he confines himself to very close 
shots. 

The third degree, or hitting a three-inch mark at 
seventy yards, is about the highest skill attainable 
with the average breech-loader with hunting-sights 
and offhand. There has long been an idea that much 
better shooting was possible. Of course better shots 
may be made. But he who takes the same pains to 
count his misses that he does to count his hits, and 
takes the average of a long series of shots, will speed- 
ily conclude that to hit a three-inch mark four times 
out of five at seventy yards is about as well as there 
is any hope of doing without very fine sights. 

The first of these degrees of skill is that used in all 
the shooting at glass balls that Carver and his imita- 
tors do. A ball is occasionally shot at at twenty 
yards, but the experiment is rarely repeated and is 
not half the time successful at the first shot. All the 
shooting is done inside of ten paces, generally at eight 
paces, and where mere sense of direction will almost 
suffice to hit it every time. 

The ball is therefore at a distance where almost no 
skill at all would be required to hit it if // were at rest. 
Now is it not practically at rest? 

The ball may be taken just as it hangs in air, just 
after it turns to descend, or even some time after begin- 
ning to fall. Anyone who has ever practiced any with 
a shot-gun at such marks knows that it makes little 
difference which way it is done so long as you con- 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 389 

tinue to catch it always at that point. Just after it 
turns is, however, the best, the sight being taken at 
the lower edge. The ball, too, is always tossed to 
about the same height, is always at the same distance 
and in the same direction, and is always descending 
at the same rate of speed. No one who has ever han- 
dled a gun needs to be told how quickly the gun be- 
gins to return to the same place when often tossed up 
to it. And in the same way the rifle-sights soon be- 
gin to align themselves almost automatically with 
anything always in the same position. How easy 
this becomes with a little practice is shown by the 
fact that with a month's practice men who had never 
before handled a rifle almost equaled Carver's best 
scores on balls. How easy it is to do naturally is well 
shown by the feat of Mr. Maurice Thompson, the 
well-known archer. At the very first trial he broke 
with bow and arrow thirty-five out of fifty balls tossed 
in air at ten paces, shooting, too, as fast as the arrows 
could be placed on the string. This was indeed a 
feat, since it takes considerable skill to hit with an ar- 
row a ball at ten paces even at rest. This would be 
fully equal to the same with the rifle at twenty-five 
yards; a little feat that neither Carver nor his followers 
have ever cared to attempt in public. 

The whole secret of the matter is this: that a body 
descending inside of ten paces, descending straight 
and always at the same speed, becomes with a little 
practice practically /// a state of rest at any point along 
the line at which one accustoms one's self to shoot at it. 
It is practically a body always in the same position 
and at the same distance, and the most careless aim if 
only low enough will hit it. A grazing ball that would 
not count on a bull's-eye will also break a glass ball. 



290 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

The case is not very much altered where pennies are 
substituted. It is far easier to hit a one-inch mark at 
ten yards than to hit a three-inch mark at thirty yards. 
This is owing to the greater clearness of the mark and 
other causes we shall see hereafter, such as trajectory 
motion of object, etc. Still, pennies are harder to hit 
than balls, and with remarkable unanimity the " cham- 
pion rifle wing-shots" always prefer balls to pennies, 
though more than twice as expensive and far more 
troublesome to handle. They also take care to have the 
pitcher a little closer, shoot at a very few of the pennies, 
and never attempt a long score. And the full score 
of those they do shoot at is generally suppressed. 

The man who first tossed up two pennies and hit 
both with a double shot-gun before they touched 
ground was considered at first a very wonderful shot. 
Such a one will even now raise a stare of wonder 
among folks who know nothing of shooting. But 
every one who has ever tried it a few times will admit 
that it is quite an easy matter, requiring only a little 
practice, and that it by no means implies the ability to 
send two woodcock whirling right and left to earth. 
The ball and penny shooting with the rifle stands 
upon the same footing. The performance was some- 
thing new. To those who knew nothing of rifle- 
shooting it was naturally surprising. The only real 
wonder is that any one knowing anything about 
shooting should have been deceived by it or thought 
there was any sleight-of-hand about it. And it no 
more implies the ability to kill game in motion than 
hitting pennies with the shot-gun* does. To waste no 
further time on this point, let us see what Carver has 
done in the field with the rifle. 

He is credited with having killed at Logansport, 




Hard to Approach. 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 291 

Ind., four woodpeckers out of six at about fifty yards; 
all crossing shots. This would be indeed marvelous 
shooting. But as Carver never alluded to it himself, 
and never has ventured to shoot at birds in his exhibi- 
tions, we may well consider it, what it really was, pure 
good fortune. Success of that sort runs in streaks. I 
have made runs of shots with the rifle on running rab- 
bits that I know I could not repeat in fifty trials. 
When Dr. Carver was getting a thousand dollars a 
week for pulverizing balls at the Minnesota State 
Fair he was invited out to shoot grouse. It was 
early in September, when grouse lie well to the dog, 
are full grown, and generally rise at less than six 
paces. There flies no bird that presents a fairer or 
much larger target. The Doctor had shot thou- 
sands before; he was not out for meat, but only for 
sport. He knew that killing grouse at that season 
with a gun is child's play. He shot sixty-five in all; 
and he took precious good care to do it with the shot- 
gun. Why did he not take a rifle? Perhaps he can 
tell us better himself. Here is an extract from a letter 
of his describing a chamois-hunt in Austria on the pre- 
serves of Count Wilzek. It is from the Chicago Field 
of Nov. 20, 1880. Here is a record of three days' 
shooting, in his own language too, by the man who 
was being wined and dined by princes and potentates 
for his "marvelous," "natural," "instinctive," "in- 
tuitive" shooting. Yet the reader must not suppose 
this is bad shooting. It is first-class work under the 
circumstances. I cite it only to show the enormous 
difference between ball-shooting and game-shooting. 
Probably no living shot could excel it. But just 
count the misses and the shots let go for want of time 
to shoot. Remember, too, that Carver is the quickest 



293 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

of living shots with the rifle, and that if anything can 
be done by snap-shooting with it he can do it. 

" Monday morning found me up bright and early, 
dressed as a mighty hunter, armed with a Winchester 
rifle, model 1876, and a six-foot pole with a spike in it. 
All eyes turned toward me, the Yankee hunter; as I 
stepped forth, dressed in an English hunting-costume, 
my long hair carefully combed, many an expression 
either of contempt or admiration went up from the 
crowd of beaters, but all in German, so I could not 
understand. I learned afterward that I was looked 
upon as a good subject for many purposes, but ' nix 
good ' for chamois. We started at the foot of an im- 
mense mountain and climbed toward the summit for 
three hours. At last we reached an impassable bar- 
rier; the Count motioned me to sit down by a little 
tree. I took my seat, and for the first time looked 
down the mountain. I came very near falling; turn- 
ing my eyes toward the summit — I dare not look 
again; everything was still as death, and thus it re- 
mained for perhaps twenty minutes, when bang ! went 
a rifle on our right. The next instant there was a 
rush of stones down the sides of the mountain. The 
Count sang out, ' Here he comes,' and sure enough 
he came rushing down the side of the mountain like 
lightning. He made a great bound and stopped on 
the side of the mountain, but only for an instant; he 
cast one wild look in our direction, and jumped out of 
sight. He ran on our right and soon disappeared, 
and the next we saw of him he crossed the mountain 
far out of reach below us. How sorry I was not to get 
him; it was the first one I ever saw. We sat still for 
a few minutes, when directly under us, not more than 
ten yards, stood another chamois. I raised my gun. 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 293 

The Count says, 'Nix, das ist eine frau;' and so it 
proved, for in another instant out stepped a little kid. 
They stood still for nearly a minute, then ran along 
the side of the mountain without observing us. In 
chamois-shooting none but the bucks are shot; there 
is but slight difference in the horns, but a hunter can 
tell a buck at a long distance. At first I could not see 
the slightest difference. The sound of the beaters 
now reached our ears, the rattle of stones above us, 
I looked just in time to see three young chamois 
bound away. Soon comes another with a kid, dread- 
fully frightened at the beaters. She ran within ten 
feet of us and stopped. She was looking behind her 
and did not discover us until I laughed. She was so 
frightened she turned around and knocked her little 
one over, and away she went down the mountain. 
We sat still for a long time until beaters reached us, 
without seeing any more; then we prepared to go 
down. 

" Bread and honey, how is that for breakfast, to 
climb mountains on ? But once more I shouldered 
that old Winchester, and followed, all smiles, far in 
the rear. A distance of five miles, then we commenced 
to climb another mountain. At last I reached my 
position, the lowest one of all, thanks to the kindness of 
the Count. I watched the other shooters until out of 
sight, then sitting down with a beater left to look 
after me, the Count taking a chance himself. He 
excused himself from me by saying he never had 
any luck; and so it proved, the females all paying him 
their respects, much to his disgust. I had not sat 
long in my position when I saw the horns of a stag 
through the trees directly on my right. The beater 
said, 'Shoot.' I was not in any hurry, I felt so sure 



394 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

of him; he stepped out exposing his shoulder to me. 
I said to myself, ' I have got you, old man,' and 
took a careful aim; bang! went the Winchester, away 
went the stag up the side of the mountain. I shot 
three hundred feet too high and ruined a top of a big 
pine; it did not take me long to get the old Win- 
chester leveled once more. I shut my eyes, pulled 
and jerked until it went off; good shot, just back of 
the shoulder, but a downright fluke. The stag gave 
one bound and then came end over end down the 
mountain for more than two hundred yards, a grand 
sight for a hunter. All was still for more than half 
an hour, when bang! went the guns all along the line 
above me, and down the mountain came a fine buck 
chamois. He stopped two hundred yards; bang! went 
my gun, but still he came on; bang! bang! went the 
Winchester, but still he came on until he was within 
fifty yards. I still kept shooting; seven shots had 
missed. He tried to run along on the side of the moun- 
tains; this was the last chance, and I stood up and 
fired. Now or never; hit, by Jove ! He clung to the 
side of the mountain for one minute, then rolled down 
to the bottom. He, my first chamois, was killed. 
Hurrah for Carver ! We did not have long to wait 
until down the mountain came another; bang! went 
the old gun. Hit, but where ? Through the haunch, 
by that great Yankee too. One stagand two chamois, 
when down came another. I turned my battery loose 
as soon as he hove in sight, and the chamois was so 
frightened that he ran within ten feet of where I was 
sitting. I still pumped away at him. He never 
stopped, although we could see four holes in him, he 
came so near. He followed a little path for a short 
distance, and quietly laid down and ' passed in his 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 295 

chips.' What fun I was having, to be sure! when 
down c-ame another. This fellow was undoubtedl)^ 
engaged on some newspaper, and was going to press; 
he went. The shooting for the day was over — three 
chamois and one stag; one chamois had five bullets 
in him. The Count gave me the skin, and I will 
always keep it in remembrance of my astounding luck. 
To say I was proud is just what I mean. We went 
home, my lameness all gone. 

" The next morning, bright and early, away we went 
again. This time we did not have so far to climb, 
and were soon in position. The first objects I saw 
after taking my ?eat were seven deer; but before I 
could think they were gone. I had just time to get 
my gun in readiness when three chamois crossed in 
front of me, going undoubtedly on pressing business. 
They went. My banging at them did not even attract 
their attention. Bear reader, if you are ever asked 
the question, ' Can chamois run?' say 'yes,' for my 
sake; but with all their speed, they are sometimes fool- 
ish, and will stop evory few jumps, and give the hun- 
ter a good opportunity to shoot. All was quiet for a 
few minutes, when bang ! went Dr. Cup's gun. A 
fine young buck stopped far up the mountain-side. I 
took deliberate aim, the bullet crashing through his 
shoulder. Almost at the same instant I heard a noise 
on my right; I looked, and within fifty yards was the 
finest stag I ever saw. Bang ! bang ! went the gun 
in quick successive shots, and the noble stag com- 
menced rolling, end over end, down the mountain, the 
chamois coming down the other. This I will say is 
the best shot I ever made. With four shots I killed 
two chamois and one stag, two bullets in the stag's 
neck within two inches of each other. The shooting 



296 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

over, Dr. Cup came down, and said I ought to thank 
him for the stag, as he missed him twice." 

I consider it safe to say that no improvement or 
discovery has been made in the art of rifle-shooting 
on moving game; that snap-shooting with it will 
always be worthless beyond the very shortest dis- 
tances; that no way of making a rifle can obviate the 
natural difficulties of shooting with it; and that the 
use of two eyes, though just as good as the use of only 
one, will not help us a particle. 

Practice at balls is, however, by no means to be 
despised. Practice at anything is better than no 
practice at all. But do not deceive yourself with the 
idea that hitting balls implies hitting game. 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME 297 



CHAPTER XXVir. 

THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME (CONTINUED), 

The great hindrances to successful shooting with 
the rifle at running deer and antelope are precisely 
the same that prevent successful wing-shooting with 
it. Shooting at the two first is the more easy only 
because of the greater size of the mark. But this 
size, great though it be, does not even at quite short 
distances permit the least carelessness in aiming. For, 
as we have seen, such carelessness is bad enough even 
when the game is at rest. The hindrances are: 

ist. The limited amount of time causes one to 
raise the rifle too hastily and run his eye too hastily 
along the sights. By which means one is almost certain 
to take too full a front sight and thereby overshoot, 
unless the rifle be held very low, 

2d. The fact that in three shots out of four the 
game is moving at some angle to the line of fire, 
thus requiring the aim to be taken ahead of the 
mark. From this flows — 

3d. The difficulty of determining how much to 
allow for the motion of the game; and — 

4th. To measure off that amount of space even if 
you do know how much is needed; and — 

5th. While doing all this and firing at the point of 
blank space in which the game will be when the ball 
reaches it, to preserve the proper elevation; a matter 
difficult enough where there is no allowance to be 



298 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

made for motion. All the conditions, too, are constantly 
varying. 

The best way to obviate the first difficulty is to raise 
the rifle slowly, or rather deliberately, running your eye 
along it and catching a full clear view of the sights 
as it comes up, concentrating your attention upoji the 
sights instead of upon the game. When shooting a 
shot-gun the game is the principal object of vision. 
One scarcely sees even the gun-barrel, and almost never 
sees the sight upon it. The tendency to do the same 
with the rifle is very strong, and in one who is a 
good wing-shot with the shot-gun is at first almost 
irresistible. But nothing is more certain to cause 
a miss at any considerable distance. Suppose a man 
with a shot-gun can average nine rabbits out of ten 
shots, all running, and all pure snap-shots. Suppose 
the same man can fire a Winchester at the rate of 
two shots a second at a standing mark, shooting 
close enough to place nine balls out of ten in an 
eight-inch ring at twenty yards — pure snap-shooting 
with the rifle. How many times would the same 
man hit rabbits inside of twenty yards, the rabbits 
all running and the rifle being fired in the same man- 
ner as at the eight-inch ring, or fired in the same 
manner as the shot-gun was fired to hit nine rabbits 
out of ten ? The answer to this problem as given by 
actual experiment is amazing even to one who knows 
the vast difference between shot and a bullet at a sitting 
mark. I believe I understate rather than overstate it 
when I say he would not touch one rabbit in ten, on 
an average of one hundred shots or more. When at 
a hundred yards or over, or when at only fifty yards and 
running fast, the same aim that with a shot-gun would 
kill fifty successive quail on the wing will not suffice 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 299 

to even scratch one running deer out of fifty except 
by accident. 

The sights must therefore be seen as plainly and 
taken with the same degree of fineness as in a fine 
shot at game standing. A certain amount of time 
must be lost in doing this. It might better be lost 
while raising the rifle than at any other time. For it 
must be lost anyhow, and during that time the game 
is getting farther away. Now if you jerk the rifle 
hastily to the mark you will find the temptation to 
fire when the sight first glimmers on the mark almost 
irresistible; and if you do fire it will almost certainly 
be with too coarse or vague a sight. But if you raise 
the rifle deliberately, looking for the sights as it comes 
up and holding your eye firmly upon them, this danger 
will not be half so great. You will have no trouble in 
keeping sight of the game all this time, whereas if 
you make the game the first object of vision you will 
find it very hard to catch a clear sight. And if you 
toss up the rifle as you would a shot-gun, it will 
actually take longer to find the sight afterward than 
when raising it slowly and running your eye along it 
as it comes up. Moreover, when raising it slowly you 
are much more apt to raise it directly into the spot at 
which it is to be fired, so as to require no adjustment 
or shifting afterward; a thing which is« the very 
essence of all good shooting with either shot-gun or 
rifle. 

In the next place, if the game is running across the 
line of fire even at a very acute angle the rifle should 
be raised ahead of the point you wish to hit. In ac- 
cordance with the principle above stated (if the ball is 
to be fired ahead of the mark at all) it is much better 
to raise the rifle at once to the point at which it is to 



300 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

be discharged than to raise it upon some other point 
and then shift it. For if you raise it upon the game 
the temptation to fire then will be too strong; and if 
you raise it behind the game and attempt to shift it 
forward you will be tempted to fire when the sight 
first touches the animal's outline. In both cases you 
will be liable to shoot too high because you will be 
quite certain to be too hasty. 

The necessity of firing ahead of moving game has 
been so strongly disputed by some who are unquestion- 
ably good field-shots, and the principle is so essential 
in shooting moving game with the rifle, that it merits 
some attention. The question is one susceptible of 
positive proof by the plainest principles of philosophy; 
so I will omit all boasting of " experience," etc., and 
call upon an impartial arbiter. 

If two railroad trains were running parallel at a hun- 
dred yards apart and at the rate of thirty miles an hour, 
a ball fired from one at a mark upon the other would 
strike the mark the same as if both trains were at rest. 
(Weare supposing, of course, that the wind will make no 
difference.) But if one were moving at only one mile an 
hour, a ball fired from that would strike the other 
train at a point distant from the mark aimed at just 
twenty-nine thirtieths of the distance the train fired at 
moved while the ball was passing a hundred yards. 
In other words, the ball moves sidewise with the 
lateral motion of the train from which it is fired at 
only one thirtieth of the speed it had when the train 
moved thirty miles an hour instead of one mile. The 
ball in both cases takes the diagonal of a parallelogram 
built upon the line of fire a hundred yards, and the 
line of space the train from which it was fired moved 
while the ball was moving from train to train. The 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 301 

parallelogram in the second case is only one thirtieth 
of the width of the one in the first case. 

Suppose now the train containing the rifle were at 
rest, but the rifle were a hundred yards long, or long 
enough to follow the mark and keep its muzzle against 
it while the ball was passing up the barrel. The ball 
would in such case hit the mark although the breech 
of the rifle were at rest. Because in such case the ball 
is carried along sidewise by the constantly increasing 
motion of the long extended barrel. And now sup- 
pose the barrel to be only three feet long instead of 
three hundred feet, but following the mark with the 
line of sights. What will then become of the ball ? If 
those be correct who insist that the lateral motion of 
the gun in following game is sufficient, the ball will 
follow the same sidewise course as if it were still acted 
upon by the constantly increasing lateral swing of the 
three-hundred-foot barrel. In other words, if one half 
of the long barrel were slit off for two hundred and 
ninety-seven feet on the side opposite the direction 
the mark is moving, so that the ball can escape from 
the side of the barrel at any point beyond three feet 
from the breech, the ball will nevertheless decline to 
escape and hug the other half of the barrel as closely 
as it did when the barrel was whole. There is no 
possible escape from this conclusion. The ball must 
take the same course in the half-open barrel that it 
does in the whole one, or it cannot get far enough to 
one side to reach the mark. Whether the ball will 
leave the opening or not is an experiment any one 
can easily try by whirling a ball up a tin tube slit off 
in the same way as the barrel. 

For those who like more imposing philosophy I add 



303 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the following principles, which are as firmly established 
as the law of gravity: 

ist. No body can describe a curve unless constantly 
acted upon by two forces one of which must be a con- 
stantly increasing force. 

2d. Whenever a ball is released from the increasing 
force which curves its course, its path will at once 
change to a straight line. 

3d. This line will be a tangent to the curve that con- 
stituted the path of the ball before its release from 
the force that curved its course. 

4th. No tangent to a curve can reach the same 
place that the curve itself would arrive at. 

When a gun-barrel is held at the shoulder and moved 
sidewise in following crossing game the muzzle 
moves much faster than the breech. And the ball is 
therefore subjected to a constantly increasing force 
from one side. This increasing force combining with 
the forward motion imparted by the powder must pro- 
duce a curve, although it is apparently a straight line. 
If any one doubts this let him take a string, double it 
and loop it over a nail on a board, then holding the 
two ends together and moving them sidewise like the 
pendulum of a clock run a lead-pencil down between 
the strings. He will find that, though the strings 
be straight and the path of the pencil apparently a 
straight line, it is actually a curve. Now how can 
this curve continue after the sidewise action of 
the barrel ceases ? And how can the ball reach the 
game unless that curve does continue ? There is no 
escape from it; the lateral-motion advocates have 
solved the problem of shooting around the corner 
without even bending the gun-barrel; we have only to 
whirl the gun fast enough and around goes the ball; 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 303 

a little faster and it will turn the next corner; {a.-iter 
yet and it will almost return to "plague the inventor" 
in the rear. 

You can now calculate for yourself about how far a 
deer running at a hundred yards will leave behind 
him a ball fired at a certain speed. The swing of the 
barrel does of course carry the ball sidewise, but it is 
like the motion of the train going at one mile an hour. 
It is only about one thirtieth or one twentieth of what 
is necessary. All calculations by figures of the amount 
of margin to be allowed are, however, of little use in 
the field. A wheel rolled down a hill where you can 
see the balls strike, and swallows skimming along 
water, etc., make good targets from which to get some 
idea of the distance necessary to hold ahead of moving 
game. Those who deny the necessity of holding ahead 
are pleased to stigmatize as theorists those who prefer 
an appeal to philosophy instead of talking about their 
own experience and sneering at the experience of all 
others. To those " practical men" who feel hard 
toward " theorists" the rolling-wheel target and the 
swallows on waterare most respectfully recommended. 

There is, however, another element that prevents 
the ball's reaching the mark in time. From the in- 
stant your brain decides to pull the trigger until the 
ball escapes the rifle some time is lost. The passage 
of nerve-force from the brain to the finger, over four 
feet; the fall of the hammer; the explosion of cap; 
the evolution of the gas from the powder, — all these 
take time. It is indeed but a short time, but it is 
time nevertheless. Take a muzzle-loading rifle with 
globe-sights and set trigger, load with a round ball 
and so small a charge that you can see every ball 
strike. Then let some one with a long string pull a 



304 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

small mark across in front of you at different distances 
and rates of speed. You will be surprised to find at 
how short a distance you will shoot behind it if you 
hold the sights directly on it. 

The effect of these two causes combined is much 
greater than one would suppose who has never shot at 
running game on ground where missing balls can be 
seen to strike. It is so great that there seems to be 
no point, however close, at which holding ahead of 
crossing game can be entirely neglected if the game is 
moving fast. And there seems to be no motion, how- 
ever slow, which will permit such neglect if the animal 
be at any considerable distance. I do not mean that 
holding ahead is always necessary to insure hitting the 
animal, but it is almost always necessary if you wish 
to hit the animal in the best place. Nor is it always 
necessary to hold the sights clear of the animal's out- 
line, but only ahead of the point j^<?« wish to strike. But 
when the game is at any distance or speed even the 
whole body will be missed, and this even when the 
course of the animal is only quartering, unless the 
aim be taken ahead. Hence holding ahead is always 
safe; is generally expedient; is often indispensable to 
success. 

There is, however, another way by which the same 
result may be attained. If the rifle be raised behind 
the game, whirled rapidly past it, and fired as it is 
passing, the muzzle of the rifle may move sidewise as 
much as an inch or two from the time your brain 
gives the order to pull the trigger — which to you ap- 
pears to be the actual time of firing, though it is not 
— until the escape of the ball. If one fifteenth of a 
second — a space imperceptible to the senses — were 
lost in this way and the motion of your gun-barrel 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 305 

were at the rate of thirty inches a second, it would 
move two inches sidewise without your knowing it 
at all. Now an inch at the gun-muzzle may equal 
three or four feet where the game is. Consequently 
at the time the ball gets its final direction from the 
muzzle the line of the sights may be several feet 
ahead of the game without your suspecting it and 
while you firmly believe you held on the body. 

This is a very effective way of using the shot-gun, 
especially on birds curling backward on either side of 
you. This, with the fact that the scattering of shot 
often renders holding ahead unnecessary at short dis- 
tances, accounts for the reasoning of many who insist 
that holding on moving game is suf!icient " if the gun 
be kept moving." 

But this is a bad method for shooting running 
deer, because — 

ist. It is just as necessary to regulate the speed 
with which the line of sight overtakes the animal and 
to fire at the right time as it is to select the proper 
distance to hold ahead; and it is quite as hard to 
do so. 

2d. In doing so you cannot retain so well as by the 
other method that clear and perfect view of the sights 
that is indispensable to avoid overshooting. 

3d. And, worst of all, you cannot in this way allow 
so well for the rise and fall of the deer and the inter- 
vention of trees, etc., in the path of your bullet. 

A running antelope is a gently gliding movement, 
soft, swift, and spirituelle. But little allowance need 
ever be made for its up-and-down motion, and often 
none at all is needful. But a running deer is gener- 
ally a bounding deer, often a bouncing deer. The 
mule-deer when running generally throws himself 



306 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

aloft at least two feet, and often three feet or more, 
at every blow of his springy legs upon the ground. 
The Virginia or white-tailed deer runs indeed with 
a graceful canter, but still rises fully the width of his 
body at every spring. And here arises the great 
source of misses on deer running straight away. If 
the deer is at any distance over thirty or forty yards, 
allowance must be made for this motion. But the 
tendency is to hold the sights upon the body and fire 
when it shows the most conspicuously; to wit, when 
it is in the air. The consequence is that the ball 
whizzes through the space the deer has just left in its 
descent. Sometimes, however, one will fire when the 
deer is on the ground, in which case the ball gets 
there as the deer is rising, and either misses it en- 
tirely or hits a leg. 

The ball should be fired at the point of space the 
deer will occupy when the ball reaches him. This 
will always involve some guesswork, because it is im- 
possible always to calculate the right distance to fire 
ahead, and it is also impossible to hit with certainty 
a blank point of space, even if you do know its exact 
distance from the mark. Try shooting a yard to one 
side of a bull's-eye at a hundred yards on clean snow, 
and see what kind of a score you will make as com- 
pared with what you could make at the mark, and 
you will at once see another reason why wing-shoot- 
ing with the rifle will always be quite a puzzle. 

The best point at which to fire is the point at which 
the deer will reach the ground in his descent. And 
this can be calculated with much more precision than 
would at first be supposed possible, although it cer- 
tainly involves much guesswork. The way it can be 
done most successfully I believe to be the following: 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 307 

ist. Raise the rifle ahead of the game, remembering 
it is a rifle and not a shot-gun. 

2d. Raise it deliberately, getting the same fine clear 
view of the sights that you would take at a deer stand- 
ing at a hundred yards; or if you cannot do that, then 
hold low. 

3d. Keeping your eye on the sights, carry the rifle 
along ahead of the deer until you catch the motion of 
the body enough to see where it will be when the 
hoofs touch ground. 

4th. Fire at that point, but fire when the deer is in the 
air. 

The great point is not to be in haste. Be not at all 
alarmed by the fact that the deer is getting farther off. 
Your chances of hitting at a hundred yards with a 
well calculated and directed shot are better than the 
chances of hitting with three or four careless ones at 
fifty yards. Place no dependence on speed of fire. 
Even from a repeater, fire every shot as though it were 
a single muzzle-loader. Speed of fire is a splendid 
servant but a wretched master. 

Of course there will be times when a pure snap-shot 
is necessary. At very short distances snap-shots will 
of course often hit. But never take one even at a 
short distance unless another bound or two will take 
the deer out of sight. 

When in timber you may be edified by the whack oi 
your bullet into a tree-trunk. Watching for an open 
place in timber is quite as essential as any other part 
of the operation of shooting running deer. And this 
can be done better if the rifle be raised ahead in the 
first instance. 

It seems to be supposed by some that shooting mov- 
ing game is much easier if both eyes be kept open. 



808 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

If you will experiment with your finger raised in line 
with some object you will find, by opening and shut- 
ting each eye alternately, that only one eye is used 
in thus aligning your finger. This will generally be 
the right one. But you will find by further experi- 
ment that you can soon train the left one to do the 
same thing. And you will find the proof conclusive 
that the brain can attend to the report or nerve of 
one eye as well as the report of both. It can 
concentrate its attention upon the picture produced 
upon the retina of one eye alone and be quite blind 
to the picture upon the retina of the other. This it 
will readily do in case of the eye we are most accus- 
tomed to use, but it can be trained to do the same 
thing with the other. The consequence may be that 
when the gun is raised the eye that is in line with the 
sights may receive the most attention from the brain, 
and the other one may be pretty much ignored. If 
you will fire a rifle alternately from each shoulder a 
few times, sighting always with both eyes open, you 
will be apt to conclude that such is the case, and that 
binocular or two-eyed shooting is a delusion. Such, 
I think, is the case after a thorough trial of it. It is 
just as good as one-eyed shooting, but no better, and 
nothing can be accomplished by it with the rifle that 
cannot be done with one eye. For shot-gun shooting 
it has a few slight advantages, but for the rifle it has 
none; and I cannot, on crossing shots, estimate so well 
the distance to hold ahead of game as when using 
one eye. Sufficient practice would probably make 
two eyes just as good for this purpose as one eye. 

There are some other rules given by many good 
hunters for shooting a running deer, two of which are 
maintained by so respectable a number of good shots 





My new repeater. Fifteen shots, almost any one of which 
would have got the game had I had but one shot. Speed of 
fire is a good servant, but a bad master. 



THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 309 

as to be worthy of notice. They are in fact the same 
as I have given, but owing to bad observation and 
carelessness of language are so mangled in sense and 
distorted in expression as to be misleading. 

The first is, " Hold the rifle ahead of the deer, and, 
when you see him through the sights, pull." 

This would of course do for a short distance, though 
even there it would probably place the ball back of 
the center of the body; but for any considerable dis- 
tance it will not do, A swinging target with a blind 
so arranged that you can only see the bull's-eye when 
it passes an opening in the blind will soon dispel this 
illusion. But the best refutation lies in the rule itself. 
This is holding 07i the mark and not ahead of it. Why, 
then, resort to such a bungling way when it is so much 
easier to raise the sights directly upon the deer? Who 
would think of shooting at a bird in such a way? 
The fact is that those who shoot in this way pull the 
trigger before the animal comes into the line of the 
sights. A little practice at the swinging target and 
blind will show you that you must shoot before. But 
you will at once see how it can easily appear other- 
wise to a careless observer. 

The other rule is," Hold on the shoulder low down." 
This will of course do if the deer is close and is de- 
scending. This rule undoubtedly originated, as did 
the last one, among hunters in the woods only. 
No one who ever shot much in the open would so ex- 
press it. But the fact here probably is that, as in 
the other case, the trigger is pulled a trifle quicker 
than the shooter thinks it is. 

If a deer is trotting or running very low you may 
disregard the up-and-down motion, though it is bet- 
ter to allow for it when you can. A deer even on a 



310 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

trot often rises considerably. A deer at full speed gen- 
erally hugs the ground like a hare. In such case the 
up-and-down motion must be disregarded. After we 
have examined the question of the flight of bullets, 
long-range shooting, etc., you will understand the 
monstrous nonsense of talking about shooting deer 
on the run at two hundred and fifty and three hun- 
dred yards as a matter of course. It is of very little 
use to shoot beyond a hundred and fifty yards; and 
there is no man who, taking all shots, can hit a deer 
running at that distance more than once in three 
shots, and it is doubtful if any one can do that. All 
the talk to the contrary is based upon guessed msX.t.isA 
of measured distance. 



LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 311 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 

There is probably no subject connected with shoot- 
ing about which so much nonsense has been written 
and spoken as the distance at which game can be 
killed with the rifle. This was bad enough in the 
days of muzzle-loaders. It has become doubly bad 
in these days of long-range and mid-range breech- 
loaders. We now know that such shooting as Cooper 
and a host of novelists have ascribed to their heroes, 
such shooting as we have all in our early days read 
about as being common among the backwoods hun- 
ters, was impossible with any rifle, and especially with 
the small-bored rifle and round ball then almost uni- 
versally in use among hunters in the woods. But 
now that rifles are found in every shop that will shoot 
into a two-foot ring at five hundred yards (under 
target-shooting conditions and care), it is quite natural 
to suppose that game can be killed as a matter of course 
at three or four times the distance at which it could 
once be done. 

More game is now killed at two hundred yards and 
over than was formerly killed at that point. But this 
is not because of any improvement or discovery in 
distant shooting, but because game is scarcer and 
wilder, and more chances must be taken, and because 
the ease of loading the breech-loader and procuring 
its ammunition makes people more liberal in expend- 



313 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

ing ammunition. I do not hesitate to assert that no 
advance whatever has been made in the art of killing 
game at long ranges, except in so far as the breech- 
loader allows one to fire more shots before the game 
gets too far away. I say this notwithstanding the 
fact that the popular opinion is quite the other way. 

The old muzzle-loader by the use of a lengthened 
ball and more powder could with globe-sights be given 
a great accuracy at quite long ranges. This was per- 
fectly understood by most of the old-time hunters, 
who often went to the annual " turkey-shoot" equipped 
with a weapon that at two hundred and three hundred 
yards can hardly be beaten to-day by any of the 
boasted breech-loaders. Many of those who hunted 
on open ground used the " slug" or long ball, and 
some used it even in the woods. Many long shots 
were made with it, and probably more game was killed 
at long range out of the same number of shots than 
is now killed with the best of modern rifles at the 
same distance. They all did plenty of boasting of 
their long shooting. But from long-range shooting 
proper, such as we are now considering, they nearly 
always abstained. This was not because they could 
not do it, but because they soon learned that, what- 
ever their skill at the target or turkey, at measured 
distances, it was far easier to get closer to game than 
to hit it at long unffieasured distances. 

There are several reasons for the extravagant ideas 
afloat about the distance at which game may now be 
killed. 

ist. The incurable mania for gilding the gold of 
simple truth. This afflicts hunters as badly as it does 
fishermen. 

2d. The love of " scissorers" on a newspaper for 



LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 313 

copying everything that savors of a good fat " whop- 
per," such as the stuff that has gone the rounds of the 
United States this year about the Boers of South 
Africa knocking over spring-bocks at eight hundred 
and nine hundred yards as a matter of course. 

3d. Sincere and natural mistake in overestimating 
distance, a thing that scarcely any of us can learn to 
avoid, and that causes the oldest hunter many a miss. 
The beginner sees a deer at a long distance, looking 
more like a small fawn than a full-grown deer. He 
shoots, and perhaps the deer falls at the first shot. 

" Ge — ra — shus ! What a shot ! Four hundred 
yards !" exclaims the delighted novice. He hastens 
to his game without stopping to measure the ground. 
He pants and puffs in getting over it as I have seen 
older hunters do in lifting a hundred-and-twenty- 
pound buck on a horse, trying to make themselves 
believe it weighs two hundred and fifty pounds 
When he reaches home the ground, still plainly seen 
by Fancy's eye, has expanded to four hundred and fifty 
yards. When he comes to tell of his wonderful shot 
he very naturally wants to do himself full justice, and 
so he leaves himself a little margin of fifty yards more 
for possible error. And to the day of his death he 
will sincerely believe that he killed that deer at almost 
five hundred yards. And to the day of his death this 
idea will be a mental whirlpool that will suck in and 
whirl out of sight all the driftwood of contradictory 
facts that years of later experience can throw in his 
way. 

Now the novice was perfectly right in one point — 
that he made a very long and very fine shot. The deer 
was only two hundred yards away, but he was still 
right in calling it a long shot; for notwithstanding 



314 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the popular impression to the contrary, two hundred 
yards is a long distance to hit a deer even in the most 
favorable position. 

The very swiftest ball or the most speed-sustaining 
ball you can fire from a rifle falls fast enough in two 
hundred and fifty yards to miss every deer or ante- 
lope at which it is fired with the sights set for a dis- 
tance twenty-five yards on either side the animal; 
either undershooting or overshooting it. You will 
find that at three hundred yards a mistake of twenty 
yards in your estimate of distance will cause a miss, 
at four hundred yards a mistake of fifteen yards, 
etc. These figures are of course not exact, and will 
vary with the rifle. But they are not over three or 
four yards out of the way for the best long-range rifles. 

If you doubt figures or anything that savors of 
" theory," put up a target at two hundred yards with 
your rifle sighted to that point. Fire a few shots, re- 
ceding from the target twenty-five yards each time 
and firing with the same sight. But do not try to hit 
the bull's-eye, but only to discover the fall of the 
bullet. 

Having satisfied yourself what the rifle will do, 
find out what you can do in estimating distance. 
Try it first in timber, making an estimate of the 
longest distances and then pacing them. Then try it 
on quite open and level ground, estimating and pacing 
up to four hundred yards only. There will be a start- 
ling shrinkage of conceit somewhere. 

But perhaps you think the faculty of judging dis- 
tance can be cultivated. Of course it can be im- 
proved. By doing nothing else it might even be 
cultivated to a high enough state of perfection to make 
five bull's-eyes out of six up to four hundred yards 



LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 315 

with the target shifted at every shot. But with such 
time as one can generally devote to that business he 
will be more apt to miss the bull's-eye five times out 
of six. 

But suppose you are quite an accurate judge of 
distance under the above conditions. Recollect there 
is no antelope there just ready to leave; no rifle in 
your hand, with your finger itching for the trigger. 
The difference that this alone makes is almost in- 
conceivable. There is also another tremendous dif- 
ficulty, the ever-shifting conditions of ground, light, 
etc., which occur in hunting. Now up hill, now down 
hill, here through timber, there over timber, through 
brush or over brush, up cafions and across cafions, 
over ridges and over flats, often with scarce a second 
to spare, judging distance in hunting is a vastly dif- 
ferent matter from what it is on always the same 
kind of ground with plenty of time and no game in 
sight. 

Moreover, whatever your skill may be, your gauge 
unconsciously shifts with the ground. The standard 
you use on the plains to-day will not do for the foot- 
hills to-morrow; the one you use in the foot-hills is 
too small when you get upon the mountain's breast; 
this fails you again when you get among the higher 
peaks; and when you return to the lowlands you are 
again " all at sea" for a few days. 

Speaking of the inside of St. Peter's at Rome, Byron 
says: 

" Its grandeur overwhelms thee not; 
And why ? It is not lessened, but thy mind, 
Expanded by the genius of the spot, 
Has grown colossal." 



316 THE STILL.HUNTER. 

Who has not felt this when among the mountains, 
and wondered at the ever-changing deceptiveness of 
heights and distances? 

Traveling once with a friend who was boasting of 
his ability to roll deer right and left at five hundred 
yards running or standing, and whom this poetry 
failed to touch (as it will the reader, being the only 
poetry in the book), I asked an old surveyor at whose 
camp we stopped how he could estimate distance. 

"Well," said he, "when I stay several days on one 
kind of ground I can make a tolerably fair guess on 
short distances. But as soon as I get on a different 
kind of ground I don't know anything." 

Considerable practical skill may. however, be culti- 
vated up to two hundred and fifty or even three hun- 
dred yards on the plains, and there are hunters who 
can judge distance well enough to hit an antelope at 
two hundred yards three times out of five at the first 
shot, all other conditions being of course complied 
with. It is doubtful, however, if any one can do this 
anywhere but on such open ground as antelope fre- 
quent. 

If you think I underestimate what is good shooting 
at two hundred yards, look over the two-hundred-yard 
scores made at matches by our best target-shots. 
Recollect, too, that these scores are generally better 
than can be made by any mere hunter, the difference 
being that the hunter can generally shoot as well at 
game as he can at a target, which the mere target- 
shot cannot do. Remember, too that the bull's-eye is 
clear white or black on a black or white ground, is 
eight inches in diameter, is always in the same light, 
position, etc., and that its distance is known to a foot 



LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 317 

and the sights set exactly to it. The target-shot has 
every advantage, the hunter every disadvantage. 
These scores are nearly all made, too, with globe- 
sights. Take the best of these scores, and bear in 
mind that it takes z. five shot to hit an antelope with 
certainty, and even that when near the edge may rep- 
resent only a crippling shot; that SLfour shot will hit 
only about half the time, and then probably cripple 
him; and that all the rest will be quite sure to miss 
the animal entirely or only break a leg. 

" Shall I shoot from where I am or try to get 
closer?" is therefore a very important question. Ex- 
cept upon quite level plains the chances of getting 
within two hundred yards are always greater than the 
chances of hitting beyond that. The chances of get- 
ting within a hundred and fifty yards are generally 
greater than the chances of hitting beyond that. The 
chances of getting within a hundred yards are often 
greater than the chances of hitting beyond it. I have 
had a pretty high degree of skill in guessing distances, 
adjusting sights, and hitting natural marks up to four 
hundred yards or more. But I am perfectly satisfied 
that if I had never seen a long-range or mid-range 
rifle, if I had hunted always with a rifle that would 
not shoot an inch beyond a hundred and twenty-five 
yards, I should have killed much more game than I 
have. For that very skill has beguiled me too often 
into opening a cannonade when I could easily have 
gotten closer. And this even with wild antelope on 
quite open ground. 

For the last three years my rule has been to shoot 
at nothing beyond a hundred and fifty yards if there 
is an even chance of getting closer to it, and not to 



318 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

shoot even that far if there is a fair prospect of shorten- 
ing the distance. I fully believe I have gotten more 
deer by it. I certainly know that there have been fewer 
broken-legged cripples. For deer and antelope on 
the plains fifty yards might be added to this distance, 
for elk another fifty yards, and for buffalo another 
fifty. Beyond this point you had better make it a 
rule to get closer. 

All this is of course on the assumption that the 
game does not see you. If it sees you, longer shots 
must often be taken. But I have seen deer so tame 
that your chances of running or even walking sixty or 
seventy-five yards closer were much greater than the 
chance of hitting at two hundred yards. And this, 
too, when they were looking directly at one. But 
where the game is not alarmed it is a safer rule to 
treat the best long-range gun as if it were a short- 
range muzzle-loader, and turn every point to make a 
sure shot. 

I know that some will disagree with this. I know 
all the stories about how So-and-so killed an antelope 
at eight hundred yards, and how What's-his-name hit 
a goose at half a mile, and how the other man hit a 
deer in the heart running at five hundred yards, etc. 
etc. etc., ad infiiiitiwi. I know, too, how it all is done. 
Nearly every one who has played much with a long- 
range rifle has made remarkable shots at long dis- 
tances. I have made my full share of them. So long 
as these are classed where they belong, as accidental 
shots, it is well enough to tell of them. But when any 
one attempts to draw conclusions from them, then, in 
the name of philosophy, I protest. Until one can 
make them at least once in ten trials at ujifneasured 



LONG-RANGE SHOOTING AT GAME. 319 

distances they are utterly worthless to reason from, 
even though considerable skill entered into them. 

One way in which game is often killed at long dis- 
tances is by it standing for "sighting shots" until you 
finally get its range. But it is quite as apt to jump at 
every shot or two just enough to derange your calcu- 
lations. And in either case the shooter is very apt to 
forget all about the number of shots that did not hit. 
Still, where it is evident that game cannot be more 
closely approached, this is sometimes an effective way 
of getting it; though the chances of hitting it at all 
are always largely against you. 

The delusion of long-range shooting is fostered by 
the ease with which with a long-range rifle the dirt 
can be made to fly just over or under a distant object. 
We shall see in another place the worthlessness for 
hunting of what is generally known as the " line-shot," 
by which is meant a shot on a line running up and down 
through the mark, and that the only " line-shot" worth 
anything for hunting is on the horizontal line, the 
hardest of all to make. But it takes bull's-eyes in- 
stead of line-shots to kill game. Moreover, what 
appears to be only a few inches' deviation from the 
distant mark is really a few feet. And to reduce those 
feet to inches without measuring the distance will be 
found a little problem the solution of which will gen- 
erally puzzle you until the game gets weary of await- 
ing the answer. 

The main difficulty of accurate long-range shooting 
cannot be obviated by telescopic or any other kind of 
sights or arrangement of sights. The estimate of 
distance remains the same whatever sight be used. 

Whenever it is necessary to shoot beyond the point 



320 THE STILL-HUNTER, 

blank of your rifle, discount your estimate of distance 
about twenty per cent on two hundred yards, twenty- 
five on three hundred, thirty on four hundred yards, 
etc. And whenever in doubt between two estimates 
of distance, decide at once in favor of the shorter one. 
By letting long shots go where there is a prospect of 
getting closer you will of course lose some game. 
But you will get more in the end. 



THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING. 321 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING. 

In the days of heavy long barrels with light bullets 
and moderate charges of powder, the days of muzzle- 
loaders, the recoil, or " kick," of the rifle was so slight 
as to have little or no effect upon the direction of the 
ball. But in these days of short light barrels with 
long heavy balls and often heavy charges of powder, 
the effect of recoil upon the direction of the ball is so 
decided that scarcely any point about shooting is 
more important than this sometimes is. 

The true theory of the recoil of a gun I believe to 
be this: The backward pressure of the gas upon the 
breech of the gun begins at the same instant with the 
forward pressure upon the ball. In each case the 
powder is acting against inertia or weight. But the 
inertia or weight of the gun, being one hundred or 
more times the inertia of the bullet, will resist the 
pressure much longer before yielding to it than the 
vastly lighter bullet can resist. So that the inertia of 
the ball is overcome and changed into motion in a 
trifling fraction of the time in which the inertia or 
weight of the gun is overcome and changed into 
motion. And this great difference in the time of 
yielding, or in the conversion of force into motion, 
makes an immense difference in the relative speed of 
the two motions. 



322 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

Suppose a fifty-pound anvil hung in air by a cord 
with a hole bored in one side that will admit a bolt of 
lead of the same weight as the anvil itself. If the bolt 
were fired from that hole with a fuse, the anvil and bolt 
would both move in opposite directions at the same 
rate of speed. This would be the case whatever 
amount of powder were used, the increase in charge 
only increasing the speed of both. If now the hole 
and bolt were both gradually reduced in size, the 
motion of the bolt would increase and the motion of 
the anvil decrease in the same ratio, until with a small 
enough buckshot and a few grains of powder fired 
from a short hole there would be no motion in the 
anvil perceptible to the eye without instruments. 
And even this small amount of motion would not 
begin until after the escape of the ball. 

Recoil, therefore, depends — 

ist. Upon the relative weights of gun and projec- 
tile. This is the most important condition. 

2d. Upon the time allowed for continuance of the 
backward pressure. Length of barrel may, however, 
by its additional weight cancel this effect. 

3d. Upon the quantity of gas evolved and quick- 
ness of evolution. 

Many brains have been badly racked over the effect 
of " air-pack" in the barrel, the " backward rush of air 
into the barrel," etc. etc. Even if there be anything 
in these ideas, they are of no use for us to consider, 
for they cannot be obviated or allowed for; and we 
therefore might as well confine ourselves to consider- 
ing those conditions that we can control or make 
allowance for. 

It is probable that in every case where a respectable 
load is fired the gun yields slightly while the bullet is 



THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING. 323 

passing along the barrel, and actually moves back- 
ward before it escapes. But unless the charge of 
powder be excessive, or the ball be very heavy in pro- 
portion to its caliber, this backward motion will be so 
directly in line with the axis of the bore of the rifle 
that the ball will go as true to the line of the axis as 
if the rifle had been solid as the eternal hills. On the 
other hand, if the charge is excessive, or the ball very 
heavy in proportion to the gun, and especially if both 
these causes conjoin, two very different effects may 
result. 

ist. The barrel may be thrown up or down, or to 
one side, before the ball leaves it, so that the ball 
starts into the air on a diffe?-ent line from that in which 
the axis of the bore was held when the trigger was 
pulled; but still always so exactly in the same direc- 
tion, and so exactly to the same extent, that the effect 
is precisely the same as if the gun had not moved a 
particle, it being only necessary to arrange the sights 
so that the axis of the bore will point the proper dis- 
tance away from the mark. 

2d. The recoil may be so violent that the barrel is 
thrown off irregularly, or not to exactly the same 
place every time, so that the rifle will shoot wildly. 

The first of these effects is seen in many of our very 
best rifles, and does not seem to interfere in the least 
with their accuracy. The second is seen in many light 
rifles that are overloaded, and especially in many of 
the light pocket-pistols made with large caliber, heavy 
ball, and heavy-charged cartridge. With some of 
these last-mentioned rifles you cannot hit a deer at a 
hundred yards more than once in five or six shots, and 
with the pistols cannot hit a mule, much less a man, 
at fifty yards in half a day. At the same time, either 



324 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

of these may shoot perfectly true if loaded with small 
charges and lighter balls. 

The first kind, or the regular jump of the barrel to 
the same position, may be either downward, upward, 
or to one side, but in most all cases is apparently up- 
ward. In a nine-and-a-half-pound Maynard, seventy 
grains powder, thirty-two-inch barrel, .44 caliber, 
ounce long ball, that I once owned, the recoil invari- 
ably threw the barrel downward. A Sharps .44 
caliber, seventy-seven grains, eight and one half 
pounds, round barrel, twenty-eight inches long, did 
precisely the same thing. Both these rifles at twenty- 
five yards threw the ball four inches loiver with the 
full charge than they would with half a charge, 
or than they would throw a round ball even with 
full charge. On sighting the empty barrel with the 
level sight, and then looking through it, the axis of 
the bore was plainly seen to point four inches above 
the center, and on the exact spot where the balls fired 
with half a charge were massed. 

So interesting was this question that I once spent a 
long time in trying to make these rifles kick in some 
other direction, or to vary in some manner the per- 
fect regularity of their downward motion. I tried 
hanging the muzzle in a scale, hanging breech in a 
scale, strapping them to heavy cross-pieces under the 
muzzle and breech, hanging very heavy weights on 
the breech while the muzzle rested on a solid beam, 
and having the weight just touch the surface of a pan 
of water, with an attendant to watch it; in short, every- 
thing I could think of except a vise. In no case, how- 
ever, could I make them vary a particle. The full 
charges sent the bullets invariably into the same hole 
— both these, especially the Maynard, were very ac- 



THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING. 325 

curate rifles — just about four inches below the bullets 
with the half charge and the round balls with full 
charge, all of which also cut the same hole. And the 
strangest part of it all was that both to me and my 
attendant the rifles in every case appeared to jump 
upward; and certainly did so, though they must have 
first jumped downward before the ball escaped the 
muzzle, for of course the barrel could not bend. 
These results were always the same whether the 
rifles were fired offhand or from rest, no matter in 
what direction or whether solidly backed or fired 
from a suspended sling. Yet this Maynard was so 
accurate that I once fired with it five successive balls 
into a four-inch circle at two hundred yards. 

On the other hand, a light barrel when overloaded 
is more likely to jump up than down. A very light 
carbine generally does; so does a shot-gun, especially 
a double one, if both barrels be fired simultaneously 
when heavily loaded. So do most all pistols. A 
Russian model .45 navy at only seven paces with 
its common cartridge shot two and one half inches 
higher than it did with the heavy ball and some of the 
powder taken out and a round bullet put in the car- 
tridge; yet this pistol was very accurate. Most all 
pistol-cartridges are overloaded, it being necessary 
with most of them to aim at a man's toes at twenty 
yards to touch him at all; and it is no wonder that 
when " the finest police in the world " shoot at a man 
across the street, the servant-girl looking out of 
the attic of the house behind him is more apt to suffer 
than the bifurcated target. So much do some of these 
pistols jump up that even after building an extra 
story on the front sight and cutting down the back 
one it is almost impossible to prevent overshooting 



326 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

with them. Sometimes a pistol will also spring to 
one side as well as up. A Wesson's .32 short- 
barrel pistol springs to the side where there is the 
least pressure of the hand on the stock — shooting to 
the left when fired from the right hand, and to the 
right when fired from the left hand, and also jump- 
ing upward in each case. 

A double gun will throw outward with each barrel, 
or away from the direction of the other barrel. I have 
a double rifle of which the axes of the barrels 
converge at about twenty yards, and on looking 
through them they can be plainly seen to cross. 
With a moderate load a rifle so built will throw out 
just about enough to carry the two balls on parallel 
lines, so that only one sight is needed. But where a 
heavy charge is used this convergence is not always 
enough, and the rifle will require double sights. With 
one sight my rifle will throw each ball outward six 
inches at thirty yards, and the two sets of sights 
diverge so as to converge the axes of the barrels still 
more than they are set. When one barrel is sighted 
it points across the line of the bore of the other at 
about only five paces. And yet each barrel is per- 
fectly accurate with its own sight. This gun also 
throws down a little as well as outward. It shoots 
a round ball with great accuracy, but it will go 
higher and inside of the other ball, which is about 
one third heavier. It will shoot round balls with a 
single sight, and also the heavy ones with a small 
charge. It is probable that any double rifle would, 
for perfect accuracy, require double sights when large 
charges were used with heavy balls, though the bar- 
rels may be set sufficiently converging for light balls 



THE EFFECT OF RECOIL UPON SHOOTING. 337 

or heavy ones with light charges of powder. Double 
sights are not such a nuisance as one would suppose, 
for after a little practice the eye shifts at the same 
time the finger does, and with as little danger of 
mistake, so that the quickest kind of running shots 
may be made with them. 

From all these facts important consequences flow. 

I St. A rifle or pistol may kick so as to be worthless 
unless lightly loaded. 

2d. It may be perfectly accurate and yet require 
different sighting for different balls or charges. 

3d. Bullets and charges should not be changed in 
any rifie without testing carefully to see the effect. 

4th. A double gun may need double sights for heavy 
charges. 

5th. The force of a ball may be affected by the 
yielding of the gun. The heavier the ball, in propor- 
tion to the caliber, the longer it will take it to pass 
along the barrel, and consequently the longer the time 
the gas will have to overcome the gun's inertia, and 
the greater will be the loss of force in recoil if the gun 
yields. This becomes of some importance in long 
shooting, especially with a long heavy ball; and if the 
gun be loosely or carelessly held, instead of well 
backed by a solid shoulder, the ball may drop enough 
below where it should go to miss a deer at three hun- 
dred yards and even less. 

6th. A gun may also throw irregularly, to one side 
or other, by being carelessly held or not always held 
alike, such as the pistol above mentioned. I have not 
noticed this, however, in any rifle I have owned, and 
should pronounce one that would do it as either over- 
loaded or worthless. 

In buying a rifle this should always be looked after, 



338 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

and before going into the field with any rifle it should 
be well tested. If its recoil is irregular, do not take 
it; if regular, it is just as good as if it did not recoil, 
but the extent and effect of its recoil must still be 
perfectly understood. 



BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE^ ETC, 329 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE KILLING POWER OF BULLETS. EXPLOSIVE, EXPAN- 
SIVE, AND OTHER BULLETS. SLIT BULLETS. BUCK- 
SHOT, ETC. 

Your success in bagging your game without much 
exertion and labor, and often in bagging it at all, will 
depend largely upon the mere shape of the bullet you 
use. 

The effect of a bullet depends of course upon the 
derangement of some of the vital organs of the body 
or upon loss of blood. But this is the ultimate effect 
— the one that too often benefits only the wolf and the 
raven. The immediate effect, or that which most 
benefits the hunter, is often as much the result of the 
accompanying shock to the nervous system as of the 
mere derangement of vital organs. In the brain or 
spinal cord one ball is about as good as another. But 
not so in any other part of the body; not even in the 
heart. 

The first requisite of a killing ball is of course pene- 
tration. But after a certain amount of that is at- 
tained excess is superfluous. All rifles of .40 cali- 
ber or over, even the small Winchester, have sufficient 
penetration with a solid ball to kill a deer or antelope 
stone dead in nine tenths of the positions in which 
they are generally found. And even a much smaller 
rifle has penetration enough for nearly all broadside 
shots. Nearly every one who has tried increasing the 



330 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

quantity of powder to increase the killing effect of a 
solid ball has been disappointed, especially if the ball 
be very hard or sharp-pointed. And many a one has 
yet to learn that a hundred grains of powder behind 
a long, tapering, hardened ball is no better than 
seventy or sixty unless for raking shots on bears or 
buffalo. And already many a man who has laid aside 
the Winchester '73 model (forty grains of powder and 
two hundred of lead to .44 caliber) and bought 
a new " Centennial " model or the model of '79 (both 
with longer ball and more powder) has discovered 
that, except for raking shots or where the ball strikes 
bones and turns or flattens, he has gained little by the 
change; the hundredth part of an increase of caliber 
amounting to about nothing. And if he should buy 
a .44 rifle, shooting a rod of lead a foot long with half 
a pound of powder behind it, he would still find no 
difference upon all the soft parts of an animal, espe- 
cially just behind the shoulder. It is often said that 
a small ball penetrates better than a big one, "cuts 
sharper," etc. This seems unworthy of notice. It 
overlooks entirely the question of momentum or 
crushing force. But, like the idea that "fine shot has 
better penetration," it is believed by many. 

Essential as is penetration, something more is need- 
ed. And that is striking surface. 

Striking surface is given of course by diameter of 
the bullet. And this diameter may be given in two 
ways. 

ist. Normal diameter given by the molds. 

2d. Abnormal diameter given by the ball expanding 
upon striking. 

Either of these is sufficient. But the first requires 
a rifle of very large caliber. The second gives the 



BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 331 

same killing power to rifles of smaller caliber. Thus 
a flat-headed .44 bullet will have as much killing 
power where excessive penetration is not required as 
a sharp-pointed ball of .50 caliber. Th.e sharp ball 
will not spread at all upon mere flesh, while the flat- 
headed one on striking will spread at once to more 
than the diameter of the other. Flat-headed balls 
cannot, however, be shot accurately for any distance. 
The head must be only half flat or rounded or merely 
blunt, and this is rarely made blunt enough to flatten 
a ball traveling at the low velocity of nearly all the 
long balls, especially when hardened as they generally 
are. For a very little tin makes a great difference in 
preventing the flattening of a ball. 

Of all solid balls none flattens like the round ball 
When made of soft lead and driven at a high velocity 
this is the most killing solid form in which any given 
amount of lead can be cast, unless great penetration, 
is needed. And when large enough its penetration is 
sufficient for all game. And this can be much in- 
creased by hardening it. 

The flattening power of any ball may be vastly in- 
creased by making a hole in the front. This is com- 
monly called the " express ball." An express ball is, 
however, more properly a short swift ball fired with 
an enormous charge of powder, and may be hollow 
or not. 

The killing effect of a ball is largely influenced by 
its velocity. And this entirely aside from the question 
of penetration. Velocity increases the flattening and 
also the rotation of the ball; which latter has a 
decided tearing effeci;. A .44 round ball with ten 
grains of powder will make in a rabbit a hole but a 
trifle larger than itself, and if through the "paunch" 



832 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the rabbit can often run away with the wound. But 
seventy grains behind the same ball will cut the rabbit 
half in two. A Winchester '73 model will decapitate 
a rabbit with its two hundred grains of lead and forty 
grains of powder almost as completely as an ax would 
do it. Open a cartridge and take out five sixths of 
the powder and the ball will barely get through the 
rabbit's head, leaving it almost uninjured outside of 
a hole of its own diameter. This difference is prob- 
ably due to the difference in the spinning motion of 
the ball as much as to the difference in flattening. 

It is said that at too high a velocity a ball will not 
flatten as much as at a low one, as a tallow candle at 
a high velocity will pass through a board without 
flattening. This is true only where the ball is fired 
through a thin resisting medium. At a high velocity 
the candle will cut a smaller hole through a half-inch 
board than when at a low velocity. But if fired at 
high velocity through something thick, like a beam or 
several boards, the hole will be not only deeper but 
larger at the bottom than when the velocity is low. 
It is the same with the bullet. A ball grazing a deer 
an inch or two deep will perhaps, aside from the cut- 
ting power of increased rotation of ball, cut a smaller 
hole at a high velocity than it would at a moderate 
speed. But where the body has any considerable 
thickness, so that the ball has more time to expand, 
the higher velocity will tell. 

I have heard good hunters maintain just the reverse 
of this; to wit, that too much powder would make the 
ball flatten so as to stop its penetration. There is 
nothing in this. The penetration of a ball that will 
flatten at all to any useful extent depends upon its 
momentum; that is, its weight and velocity. Its pen- 



BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC 333 

etration is more of a crushing force than a piercing 
force like that of the sharp-pointed balls. And the 
higher its velocity the farther in it gets; provided it 
be solid or have not too large an expansion-hole in 
front. 

It is thought by many that a ball that lodges in an 
animal is more effective than if it passes through; as 
the nervous system then receives the whole shock of 
the ball. This is often a mistake of effect for cause. 
The ball does not kill better because it stops. It 
stops generally because it has greater killing power; 
to wit, its expansive power. A ball having enough 
extra force to tear its way entirely through an animal 
and continue its flight must leave about the same 
amount of force in the animal as if it had only force 
enough to get just through. 

As a rule, it is best to have balls pass through, 
especially solid balls. From the entrance-hole of a 
small bullet the animal bleeds little or none, and the 
flesh on the side where the ball stops will be badly 
bloodshot. If it goes through you will be more apt 
to have the aid of blood to help you track the animal 
if wounded; it will also bleed out much quicker and 
be much less injured by settling of blood. 

Where great penetration is needed it had better be 
given by hardening a ball with tin than by sharpening 
its point. As much as twenty-five or thirty per cent 
of tin may be used without injuring the rifle-grooves 
by an ordinary amount of use. A ball of terrific pen- 
etrating power may, however, be made as follows: 
Take a long bullet and cut it in two just below the 
point where it rides the grooves by rolling it under a 
sharp knife-blade. Then drill or bore a large hole 
through the butt-piece, replace it in the molds, and 



334 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

poiXr through the hole a hot mixture of equal parts of 
Babbitt-metal and tin. A mold for casting points like 
this may be easily made by half-filling the upper part 
of common molds with two pieces of brass or iron 
brazed in. The points may then be put in another 
mold and lead poured around them. But you can 
easily make all you need by the other method. From 
a .40-caliber rifle with sixty grains of powder I once 
shot one of these through two cast-iron stove-griddles 
and two jawbones of an ox all wedged together in a 
box, and the ball got through the other side of the 
box. Such balls are, however, of no use for ordinary 
hunting. 

It is not many years since the English sportsmen in 
India commenced using a short cylindrical ball with a 
hole or well in the front, instead of the ponderous 
round balls and solid bolts they had before used for 
tigers and other dangerous game. These were some- 
times made explosive by the insertion of a cartridge 
of some kind in the hole. Others were fired without 
any explosive filling, leaving the ball to fly open with 
its own force upon striking. 

Some of the British sportsmen brought their rifles 
to this country on hunting-trips, and it was not 
long before some of our own countrymen tried these 
bullets. 

As about every other great improvement, extrava- 
gant nonsense was soon told about them. " Blowing 
open the head of a grizzly-bear" with a .22-caliber 
pistol-cartridge inserted in the ball, as if the head 
were a snuff-box, " pulverizing" heads as if they were 
puff-balls, were among the least marvelous of the ef- 
fects attributed to them. Some discoursed of " ex- 
press shock" as if the ball were a condensed thun- 



BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 335 

derbolt suddenly released in an animal's body; 
others talked of the velocity being so terrific as to 
"drive the ball into perfect dust." Still others, with 
that marvelous love the human mind has for paradox, 
discovered that the smaller these bullets were the 
more terrific and killing was "the express shock." 

This improvement soon suffered the fate of every 
good thing that is overrated, and detractors arose. 
Many old hunters on the plains and in the moun- 
tains denounced them as worthless for game of any 
considerable size. Even foreigners gave the same 
verdict; one Scotch gentleman, returning from a 
Rocky Mountain tour, comparing in the Forest and 
Stream their effect on a grizzly-bear's shoulder to "so 
many bumblebees." Men like Col. Judson and J. H. 
Batty, who had seen them tried and tried them them- 
selves, men who certainly cannot be accused of igno- 
rance, pronounced them inferior for general use to the 
solid ball. 

For years a voice within which I took for the voice 
of humanity, but which, judging from the fashion of 
the day, must have been the voice of folly, had said in 
thunder-tones: " If you are going to kill an animal at 
all, kill it. Don't torture it." No sooner did I hear 
of this improvement than I adopted it. I have shot 
about three hundred deer with balls so made, have ex- 
perimented with it in various ways, and must say most 
decidedly that while it is absurdly overrated it is still 
the most valuable improvement, next to the breech- 
loading principle, that has been made in rifles within 
the century. 

I first made them explosive by inserting in the hole 
a .22 long pistol-cartridge with the bullet either cut 
off or taken out and replaced with more powder. 



3i56 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

The same thing may be done by dropping a very 
small nail into the hole head first, filling it around 
with powder, and putting a tight-fitting cap on the 
nail and covering with wax, etc. These will explode 
on the softest flesh and even on water. An eight- 
pound jack-rabbit standing on his hind-legs and 
struck in the middle was distributed in a hundred 
pieces for thirty feet around, not a piece big enough 
to fry being left. Firing into the water just below a 
mud-hen a .22 cartridge in the ball raised it five feet 
out of water and broke its back, one wing, and one leg, 
though none of the ball touched it. From such a ball 
I very naturally expected tremendous results. 

One of the first things I observed was that upon 
deer, coyotes, wildcats, and foxes the explosion pro- 
duced no such effect as it did upon hares. Though 
the balls could be distinctly heard to explode and the 
flesh found blackened with the powder, there was no 
blowing or rending effect whatever. The hole was 
precisely the same as that made by the same ball 
left with the hole unfilled by anything. The killing 
effect appeared upon deer to be even a trifle less, and 
the penetration of the non-explosive ones was percep- 
tibly the best. Determined to thoroughly probe the 
subject, I bored out some long-range .44 balls so as 
to admit a .32 long cartridge. Two of these I tried 
on an ancient Thomas-cat that had outlived his use- 
fulness. Neither upon the shoulders nor upon the 
head could I discover any blowing or rending what- 
ever, though the hole was blackened by powder. The 
hole was large and constantly expanding; but was 
merely cut the same as the empty balls would do it. 
Blocks of dry cottonwood, straight-grained, one foot 
long and about eight inches in diameter, that one blow 



BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 337 

of an ax would split in two, I utterly failed to split or 
even crack. With eighty grains of powder the balls 
penetrated only some four inches and were torn in 
splinters, while the hole was blackened with powder. 

The reason of this will be readily seen. A Win- 
chester '73 ball — two hundred grains of lead and forty 
of powder, caliber .44 — ball quite flat-headed, will split 
a rabbit completely in two with a raking shot, or cut 
it half in two with a broadside shot. But through a 
deer, a wildcat, coyote, or other tough animal it will 
make a hole but a trifle larger than itself. A fire- 
cracker fired in a glass vial left uncorked will split 
the vial in a hundred pieces if it be very thin, but 
will not even crack it if it be tolerably thick like a 
small ink-bottle. The difference in the first case is of 
course in the toughness of the flesh, in the second in 
the toughness of the glass. The tough bottle resists 
the gas long enough to allow its excess of pressure 
to escape at the mouth. In the same manner tough 
flesh resists the pressure long enough to allow 
the gas to escape around and behind the bullet. And 
in the case of the bullet the pressure of gas is also re- 
lieved by the ball cutting a large and increasing hole 
in front about as fast as the gas can fill it. Continued 
experiment and observation convinced meat last that, 
unless filled with some violently detonating powder 
that would be too dangerous to use, a ball is actually 
better to be left merely hollow. 

The reason of this is the lack of penetration of explo- 
sive balls. In an average of over fifty shots at game, 
as shots must now be taken, penetration is about as 
essential as anything. To contain enough of any ex- 
plosive that could be safely used the hole in the front 
of the ball must be both large and deep. In any ball 



338 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

of moderate caliber this would leave the rest of the 
ball so thin that when it explodes there is nothing but 
splinters from the sides and a light butt. If fired 
empty it will fly into flinders upon striking, and upon 
such solid parts as the haunch of a deer will tear a 
bad flesh-wound and often let the deer get away on 
three legs. When made explosive, the explosion, which 
begins at the depth of about half an inch, retards 
it much more, not only by backward pressure, but by 
opening the ball faster than it otherwise would open. 
By exploding around the feet, explosive balls are also 
much more certain to alarm game that might stand 
until you get its range by seeing the balls strike. 

Much better in the long-run is the ball made sim- 
ply expansive by a hole in front. It is common to 
place in this hole a hollow copper tube, filled with 
tallow or wax. All of which is idle toil. The effect 
is precisely the same with nothing in them. The 
accuracy is the same up to all ranges at which it is 
worth while to shoot at game at all. Beyond those 
ranges they will all turn over butt foremost. No 
difference is perceptible between the accuracy of balls 
cast hollow and solid ones, except of course at long 
range. The extent to which a ball shall expand is a 
very important question. A ball may be made to 
fly into pieces so small that you can scarcely find one 
in an animal. Or it may be made to break up into 
six or eight or ten pieces. Or it may be made to sim- 
ply spread out like a mushroom without breaking. 
Or it may be cast so as to merely increase its diameter 
about one half, etc. 

By many the expansion of a ball is supposed to de- 
pend upon its velocity. Up to a certain point this is 
of course true. But beyond that point it depends 



BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 339 

almost entirely upon the diameter, depth, and shape of 
the hole in its front. If a ball be made with a wide deep 
hole as wide at the bottom as at the top, so that the 
wall of lead around the hole is thin, stands only on a 
thin butt and has only a thin attachment to that butt, 
it will fly into flinders the instant it strikes the softest 
flesh, even if the velocity be quite moderate. On the 
other hand, if the hole be small, shallow, and tapering 
to a point at the bottom, the ball cannot be driven 
into splinters by any velocity that can be given it. It 
will merely fold back over its base like a mushroom. 
Bone of course would splinter it somewhat, as it would 
a solid ball. But upon soft flesh it would not splinter. 

The effect of these different balls can be almost pre- 
dicted. Suppose you have a fair shot at an animal, 
and hit it beliind the shoulder, in the chest, or in the 
kidneys with the first bullet. The effect of a ball 
thus dashed into a hundred splinters upon the most 
vital organs must be terrific. We can readily see how 
persons can talk of the terrific effect of "express 
shock" upon even such an animal as the tiger. It is 
practically a charge of small shot fired directly into 
the seat of life. 

But suppose 3'-ou do not have a fair shot, and you 
strike your animal where penetration is necessary. 
Suppose your little hollow ball hits a bone heavy 
enough to tear a solid ball in two. What then ? As 
there is a limit to the penetration of fine shot beyond 
which no powder can drive it, so is there a limit to 
the penetration of ball-splinters to pass which no 
"express" power will avail. If the ball is to pene- 
trate or crush very far, it must have momentum. To 
have momentum it must have weight. To have 
weight it must hold together. 



340 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

Here is, I think, the whole ground of disagreement 
about these bullets: A thing once highly praised is 
soon fancied good for everything. Found not good 
for everything, the natural conclusion often is that it 
is good for nothing. 

I very soon found that the killing power of such 
balls upon an animal struck in or very near the 
right place was immensely greater than that of solid 
balls, that they were but a trifle better upon "paunch- 
shots" and not as good upon " haunch" and "stern 
shots" as the same ball solid. I lost deer struck 
in both places, and even a half-grown fawn I fol- 
lowed for over two miles, though a ball had exploded 
exactly in the center of its body. As one may shoot 
twenty successive deer with a .35-caliber solid ball and 
drop them all inside of a hundred yards, so one may 
shoot as many with one of these balls and see most all 
of them wilt like wet rags almost in their tracks. 
From such data the reflective hunter reasons not. He 
well knows that two hundred shots might tell a very 
different tale, and that, year in and year out, pene- 
tration is just as essential as striking surface. 

The ball made with a small tapering hole will not 
produce such instantaneous death upon striking the 
vitals as does the ball that flies to pieces. But as it 
nearly doubles its diameter, its effect is about four 
times what it would otherwise be. And this is quick 
enough upon all the vitals of ordinary animals. Such 
a ball can also be given all the penetration that is 
necessary for ordinary animals. For unusually large 
animals they must be vastly superior to the more 
hollow ones. 

Making a ball expansive does not, however, com- 
pletely compensate for smallness of caliber. For 



BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 341 

penetration and crushing force it must positively 
have actual weight. A pound of powder could not 
drive a ten-dollar gold piece much over two or three 
inches into solid flesh, striking of course with its flat 
surface. And lead is only about half the weight of 
gold. There must be weight behind to force the 
widening front of an expansive ball through solid 
flesh, or even through the contents of the stomach. 
Now if the ball be made long so as to give this weight 
to a small-calibered rifle, you lose much of the velocity 
which is so essential to a good trajectory as well as to 
the rotatory and cutting power of the ball, etc. 

The killing power of all long bullets is, however, 
vastly improved by making a hole in them. But the 
quantity of powder must be increased where it is 
small, as expansion checks the penetration immensely. 
To increase much the efficiency of such a bullet as 
the Winchester '73 model, the hole should be small 
and tapering and hardly half way through the ball; 
but then it should shoot at least a hundred grains of 
powder instead of forty grains. The Winchester 
" Centennial" would be improved in the same way 
without any increase of powder, because it has a much 
longer ball. All the rifles on the market shooting 
long- or mid-range balls with seventy or eighty grains 
or more of powder can be much improved in this way, 
though all would be much better to have more powder 
and a shorter ball with smaller hole. 

The hole in the ball is generally made by a plug in- 
serted in the molds. A hole equally good can, how- 
ever, be made with a gimlet or awl, unless you want a 
large deep hole. The ball can be replaced in the mold 
and bored through a hole at the front end. Or it can 
be bored more true by having a guide-hole bored in 



342 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the " loader," into which you can run a gimlet and 
bore into the ball after it is loaded in the shell. 

A round ball, if large enough, makes a splendid ex- 
pansive ball, being most truly " express" up to a hun- 
dred and fifty or two hundred yards. For the reasons 
before given it must, however, be large so as to have 
penetration enough. The hole must also be made 
more flaring at the entrance than in the other balls, or 
it may slip through without expanding at all, 

I have tried very large and very small holes in both 
long and round balls, and am satisfied that there is no 
way in which a ball can be made to first penetrate 
well and then fly to pieces. Its flying into splinters 
depends so entirely upon its shape that it will fly at 
an inch or two of depth no matter what its velocity. 
And if it be made with a very small hole it cannot be 
driven into "splash" upon mere flesh. 

I have tried and am still trying to so shape a ball 
that it will expand upon the stomach and soft parts of 
an animal, yet penetrate the solid muscle, etc., without 
expansion. The results are not wholly satisfactory. 
Hollow balls can be so made as to penetrate wood 
without expansion, yet expand upon water. But they 
all tend to expand upon flesh if the hole be of any 
size; and if too small, to slip through without spread- 
ing. 

A ball well hardened with tin is much less likely to 
break up than one of soft lead. But if the hole be too 
large the very hardest ones will splinter at once. 

Deer are occasionally still-hunted with buckshot in 
shot-guns. It is a wretched apology for the rifle, and 
the distance at which deer can be killed with buckshot 
is vastly overrated. Even at forty yards, with ordinary 
guns, two are crippled to one that is killed. Neither 



BULLETS: EXPLOSIVE, EXPANSIVE, ETC. 343 

Ely's wire cartridges nor any mode of loading buck- 
shot can remedy this very much. Of the cartridges 
over one half will either go like a solid ball and miss 
generally entirely, or they will go like loose buckshot. 
Not one half will go as they are intended to go; and 
when they do, they do not add much over twenty-five 
yards to the range of the gun. The killing effect 
of a single buckshot is not to be compared to the 
effect of a rifle-ball of the same size. It lacks both 
the velocity and flattening quality and the cutting 
power of the rotation. Buckshot kill only by their 
number or by the accidental striking of a vital part; 
generally both conditions are necessary. The temp- 
tation to shoot with them at deer too far off is almost 
irresistible. And the certainty of crippling is about 
in inverse proportion to the probability of killing with 
them. Before a pack of hounds or for close night- 
shooting the gun may be tolerated. For still-hunting 
its use is an outrage and a sin. 

I have never tried bullets slit or sawed into pieces 
half way to the center. Where great penetration was 
not needed they would doubtless be better than the 
solid ball. But they would be hard to make well, and 
could not give the same striking surface as if made 
with the proper-shaped hole in front. Neither could 
one made with an expansion-hole in the rear. Such a 
one would doubtless expand upon bone or a solid mass 
of muscle like the haunch. But almost any ball will 
expand enough on such parts. And they are pre- 
cisely the parts where much expansion is rather un- 
desirable. 



344 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE HUNTING-RIFLE, AND FLIGHT OF BALLS. 

So much space has already been and still must be 
devoted to more important matters — matters, too, 
upon which you will find little or no information else- 
where — that the subject of the best hunting-rifle must, 
like the care and management of the rifle, in next 
chapter, be passed by with the briefest mention of a 
few important points. To properly discuss such sub- 
jects requires almost a volume of itself; and as they 
are already somewhat discussed in works now extant, 
we must subordinate them to the principles of field- 
hunting and field-shooting. 

In the first place, then, the action of your rifle, as is 
also the question of repeater, single-loader, or double 
barrel, is largely a matter of taste. All actions are 
strong enough and durable enough. The quickness 
and ease of the action you can yourself decide as well 
as any one. All hunters have their preferences, and 
all have a peculiar weakness for their favorites that 
makes their opinions as to the best rifle nearly worth- 
less. Different rifles are " all the rage" in different 
sections of country, and scarcely anything else is 
worth having. And this according to the opinion of 
the ablest shots and hunters. 

All American "sporting" rifles now shoot accurately 
enough, and all about equally well. That is, if prop- 
erly loaded and handled they will shoot as well as any 



HUNTING-RIFLE, AND FLIGHT OF BALLS. 345 

rifle in the world in which the ball is seated in the 
shell and started below the grooves. The finest shoot- 
ing can be done only by detaching the two and start- 
ing the ball in the grooves, either by pushing it in 
ahead of the shell or loading from the muzzle. One 
or the other of these modes is now followed by all 
long-range experts. 

The question of twist, depth, and number of grooves, 
etc., you can quite safely leave to the rifle-maker. The 
slower the twist up to a certain point, however, the 
better for all high-velocity rifles. One turn in fifty 
inches is enough for rifles shooting heavy charges of 
powder and very short bullets. 

For accuracy, range, and penetration .44 caliber is 
sufficient, and with an expansive ball properly made 
is amply killing for nearly all shots on the soft parts 
of an animal. For the solid parts a large round ball 
of soft lead is the more effective, and taken for an 
average of a hundred shots is the most effective form 
in which the same weight of lead can be cast. It is 
objected to large calibers that they tear and spoil the 
animal too much. But they bleed an animal so much 
more, and kill so much more quickly and certainly, 
that in the long-run there is not a tenth of the waste 
with them that there is with solid balls in the small- 
bores; and owing to the comparative lightness of the 
ball, it being generally round or very near the weight 
of the round ball, the recoil is not at all unpleasant. 
Popular opinion, however, favors the smaller bores 
with solid balls, in spite of the amount of game crip- 
pled and lost by them. 

No rifle need be over thirty inches long, and even 
twenty-eight is enough for quite high velocities even 
with quite coarse powder. It should be as handy and 



346 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

as well fitted to you as a shot-gun. For the ill-bal- 
anced, clumsy, straight-stocked, long-stocked, awk- 
ward things often seen on the market there is abso- 
lutely no excuse. Neither is a crescent-shaped scoop 
in the stock that requires adjustment to the shoulder 
anything but a nuisance, especially for running shoot- 
ing. It is a stupid relic of the age that thought six- 
teen pounds of iron four feet long necessary to shoot 
a pea-bullet with accuracy. 

A hunting-rifle of caliber as large as .55 need not 
weigh over ten pounds, and eight pounds is plenty for 
one of .44 caliber. 

The only other point important enough to mention 
now is the trajectory of the rifle for a hundred and 
fifty yards or so. The trajectory is the path of the 
bullet through the air, and is always a curve, although 
for some distance no curve can be detected either by 
shooting at targets or at game. 

The greater the initial velocity or the speed with 
which the bullet is driven from the gun, and the 
greater the bullet's power of retaining that speed, 
either by increase of caliber, elongation, or sharpening 
of the bullet's front, the greater the distance over 
which the bullet will be driven without making curve 
enough to overshoot or undershoot your mark. 

When you have once had some experience of the 
marvelous tendency to overshoot game under most 
conditions of light and ground, of the extreme diffi- 
culty of calculating and allowing for distance, of the 
great danger of missing by raising sights, holding 
over game, taking " coarse bead " on the front sight, 
etc. etc., you will see that it is of the utmost import- 
ance to extend as far as possible this distance over 
which the path of the bullet appears to be level. And 



HUNTING-RIFLE, AND FLIGHT OF BALLS. 347 

when you find that a hundred yards for the woods, 
a hundred and fifty yards for open hills, and two hun- 
dred yards for the plain (plain rolling enough to be 
worth hunting antelope on by stalking) are the dis- 
tances within which five sixths of your opportunities 
to kill game will occur, you will be still more con- 
vinced that the higher the velocity the better the rifle 
for hunting — all else of course being equal, as it may 
easily be, except very long-range power. 

For high velocity slow twist is best; but two things 
are indispensable; viz., plenty of powder and a light 
load for it to drive. 

Nearly all American sporting-rifles, as now manufac- 
tured, are low in velocity. They are chambered for 
too little powder, nearly all the makers furnish molds, 
loading-tools, etc., for too long a bullet, and the bullets 
in the factory ammunition are all too long. A long- 
bodied bullet is indispensable for a long and steady 
flight, and hence is essential for long-range accuracy. 
But making a ball three or four times the weight of 
the round ball of the same caliber acts precisely like 
doubling or tripling the charge of shot in a shot-gun. 
It cuts down immensely the speed with which it passes 
up the barrel, and decreases immensely the amount of 
powder that can be endured by the shoulder. It gains 
only in momentum or continuing power. And though 
by virtue of this it will make a thousand yards in about 
half the time that a round ball from the same gun could 
make it with any amount of powder, the round ball 
will, on the other hand, make seventy or eighty yards 
or more in half the time the other does, and therefore 
make much less of a curve. And if the weight of the 
round ball be increased one half by making a longer 
ball, and the charge of powder be doubled behind it, 



S& THE STILL-HUNTER. 

it may make a hundred and fifty yards in the same 
time the long-range ball makes a hundred, and thus 
add fifty or sixty yards to the point at which you will 
be able to hit your mark without in any way allowing 
for or thinking about its distance; in other words, in- 
crease what is unphilosophically but popularly called 
"the natural point blank" of the rifle. 

This is what is now called the " express" system; 
although it is commonly confounded with the expan- 
sive principle, owing to the fact that the bullets for 
the " express rifle" are generally made expansive also. 
The "express" or high-speed system concentrates all 
the power of the gun on the first hundred and fifty or 
two hundred yards, a thing you will in time deem 
eminently wise if you take the trouble to measure 
your distances instead of guessing them, and practice 
target-shooting at a mark between seventy-five and a 
hundred and fifty yards, with the mark changed from 
twenty to forty yards in distance between each shot. 
This high-speed idea is supposed by many to be an 
English notion. But it is in fact nearly as old as 
American rifle-shooting; although there were few of 
the old hunters who ever put powder enough behind 
the light sharp-pointed cones — short, sugar-loaf-shaped 
balls — that they used for the purpose. 

For measuring the velocity of balls an instrument 
called the chronograph is used. But there is much 
reason to suspect its accuracy in registering high 
velocities. At all events, it is expensive and difficult 
to use. It is far easier, and better for your purpose, 
to measure it by the fall of the bullet below the mark 
at certain points. This gives you the mean velocity 
for the distance at which you shoot; a mean com- 
pounded of the ball's initial velocity and its sustain- 



HUNTING-RIFLE, AND FLIGHT OF BALLS. 349 

ing power; its starting speed and bottom. Moreover, 
the velocity in feet per second is of no consequence to 
the mere hunter. The velocity compared with the 
velocity of other rifles is all he need consider. This 
method shows not only the comparative mean velocity 
in a way easily measured, but gives also a view of the 
bullet's path that no chronograph can ever give. The 
method I use is as follows: 

Twisting a wire into a hoop, I fasten it on the end 
of a stake about shoulder-high. Two of these are set 
in the ground about fifteen yards apart, the first one 
about eight or ten yards from the firing-point. Over 
these thin paper is pinned. In line with them, but at 
a hundred yards, or a hundred and fifty yards, or 
whatever the distance for which you wish to measure 
the drop of the ball, is something to catch the balls; 
a smooth tree-trunk or old door, etc., will do. The 
rifle is then fired through the screens so as to strike 
the tree or other object. 

As the fall of the bullet up to twenty-five yards is 
imperceptible to ordinary observation, and is a con- 
stant factor in all the experiments anyhow, the two 
holes made by the bullet through the two papers may 
be considered the line on which the bullet leaves the 
muzzle. The distances of the screens may of course 
be reduced to the nearest point at which the powder 
will not spoil the first hole, if greater accuracy be 
desired. 

A heavy pencil- mark is then made on the side of 
each screen on a level with the bullet-hole. By the 
aid of a glass these are then " ranged in" by an assis- 
tant with a horizontal line on the tree. The distance 
from that line to the bullet-hole will give the fall of 
the bullet within at least an inch if care be used in 
making the lines. 



350 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

Greater accuracy may be obtained by setting a sur- 
veyor's " transit" — telescope-bearing instrument — at 
the first hole, centering the two holes with the cross- 
hairs of the telescope, and having some one to "line 
in " the point on the tree as in "centering" a corner- 
post. This test may be made almost perfect. 

By putting another screen a trifle over half way be- 
tween the gun and the last target (say at fifty-five 
yards from the rifle for a hundred-yard shot), then 
stepping aside and looking down the line of the 
screens, you will see how much the bullet has to rise 
to strike a bull's-eye at the farther target. This may 
also be nearly obtained in inches by " lining" the hole 
in the first screen and the bullet-hole in the tree on 
the side of the half-way screen, and measuring from 
that line to the hole in the same screen. It will be 
between a third and a fourth of the fall at the tree. 

Such experiments may be simplified or made still 
more accurate by a little care and ingenuity, and will 
give you an idea of the most important thing con- 
nected with the rifle — an idea, too, that you will never 
get in any other way. The ignorance upon this point 
among even good practical hunters is positively ap- 
palling. The vast majority even of the best shots 
think a good rifle "shoots level " up to two hundred 
or three hundred yards; and he who should have the 
audacity to assert that a rifle that will make twenty 
successive bull's-eyes at a thousand yards may at a 
hundred and twenty yards drop its ball many inches 
below that of another rifle that probably could not hit 
the same bull's-eye at all at five hundred yards, would 
be considered a fool by fully three fourths of the best 
rifle-shots in the country. 



THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 351 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 

The more I experiment with sights and shoot with 
other people's rifles the more I become convinced 
that bad sights are nearly as fruitful a source of 
misses as anything so far considered. Though more 
accurate shooting can be done with globe-sights, 
there is no question of the superiority of open-sights 
for all quick shooting or shooting in dim lights or 
in the woods. And they are accurate enough to two 
hundred yards at least. 

The open sight usually put upon rifles by manufac- 
turers can scarcely be considered " the pink of per- 
fection." The very essence of a front sight is that it 
appear always the same, and be visible in every light. 
The huge piece of dull metal, shaped like a slice of 
watermelon, that adorns the muzzle-end of most 
factory rifles can hardly be seen at all in some lights. 
And when it can be seen it is often nearly as bad as 
if it could not. Stand out in the sun with a rifle hav- 
ing one of these, and holding it at arm's length, with 
your eye upon the front sight, turn completely 
around. You will probably see the center of bright- 
ness shift all over it from base to tip and from side to 
side. This center of brightness is what you will take 
for the true center in nearly every case where there is 
the slightest need of expedition in shooting. And 
upon running game you will be quite certain to 



352 THE SriLL-HUNTER. 

always do so. You can see for yourself what the re- 
sult of so doing must often be, especially when a fine 
shot is necessary. 

No metal shows in so many lights as ivory or white 
agate does. And they hardly ever fail to show the 
true center at a glance. For running shooting on 
snow or flying shots against the sky, gold or brass or 
even iron is better, but for bare ground the whiter 
the sight the better. The liability of ivory or agate 
to break seems the only objection. This can be 
readily obviated by having an extra sight. But ivory 
can be so set that there is little or no danger. It 
should be screwed into a screw-hole in an iron block 
having a guard of iron on the muzzle-side. When 
filed away on the sides and top this guard and the 
ivory will be of the same width and height. The 
guard will be invisible, but will be quite sure to pro- 
tect the ivory; will, at all events, preserve a part of it; 
can itself be used as a temporary sight if the ivory 
should go; and is a ready guide to the adjustment of 
another piece of ivory, or bone if you have no ivory or 
agate at hand. Ivory must be kept free of grease, 
though grease can soon be taken out of it by boiling 
in alcohol, alkali, etc., or by rubbing it well with ether. 

The beginner with the rifle lays to his soul no unc- 
tion so flattering as the idea that a shot a few inches 
above or below the mark is a good shot because it is 
what the world is pleased to term " a line-shot." In 
dueling, "a line-shot" means something. In shooting 
at game where there is seldom six inches to spare 
above or below the center, and much less if you in- 
tend to hit the vitals, and where the mark is from 
five to twenty times the distance of the mark in 
dueling, "a line-shot" also means something; to 



THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 353 

wit, a clear miss three times out of four. It is on 
the horizontal and not on the vertical line that " a 
line-shot" that is worth anything for game must gen- 
erally be made. And this is just the hardest of all to 
make. Except in a cross-wind the veriest tyro can 
with ease hit above or below the mark at quite long 
distances. But to reach the horizontal line requires 
the very best of work. And it is on this line that all 
defective work in the rifle, all bad loading, all bad 
shooting, etc., shows itself three times out of four. 
And in the long-run, a horizontal line-shot a foot 
from the center on either side will miss less game 
than a line-shot six inches above or four inches below 
the center. 

The top of the front sight should therefore be so 
flat and broad as to insure the best horizontal shoot- 
ing without too much sacrifice of accuracy on the up- 
right line. But it can be made quite flat and broad 
upon the top without any such sacrifice of vertical ac- 
curacy as would be supposed necessary. If sharp it 
cannot be depended on for quick work or in every 
light; though when there is plenty of time the best of 
shooting can be done with a sight as sharp as a knife- 
blade. A front sight about as broad at the top as 
a common pin-head and perfectly flat will be accurate 
enough for all hunting purposes when your eye gets 
used to it. And even if a sacrifice must be made, it 
had much better be made on the vertical line. It will 
do no harm to have the top of the back edge slightly 
sloped off. With a metal sight this had better be 
done so that a little spot shines there like a star; all 
below it being kept dull in color, and the star portion 
being kept polished by a few rubs with a bit of wood 
as often as it gets tarnished. 



354 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

The front sight is generally made too high. It 
need be just high enough to enable you to see when 
you catch too much of it with the eye. High sights 
are harder to catch with the eye and easier to catch 
in anything else than low ones. In falling snow they 
are better, but then even high ones are bad enough, 
and the rifle should be carried upside down, and oc- 
casionally wiped, with any sights. With low sights 
you cannot so well raise the trajectory by what is 
called a "coarse bead" — taking a coarse view of front 
sight. But this in the long-run will be the greatest 
blessing that could happen you. 

It is often convenient to have a quickly adjustable 
globe-sight on the rifle. The principle of Beach's 
combination-sight is a good one, but the open part of 
it is entirely too dull, besides the objection of vary- 
ing play of light upon it. Cut it down one half and 
solder a little strip of gold on it. Or, which is better 
yet, cut it off entirely and set a low ivory sight in 
front of it that can be seen over the ring when flat, 
and above which the globe can be seen when the ring 
is raised. 

But here is one, in my humble opinion, better yet 
for one who needs a globe-sight at all; and with it the 
best of horizontal shooting can be done. I have 
never known any one else use it, but I found it very 
good. 

Take a common long-barreled globe-sight and cut 
away with a file or drill all of the top half of the bar- 
rel or cylinder except just enough to protect the 
thread and ball — making a perfect cage of it and ad- 
mitting all the light possibe. Then put a golden ball 
upon the thread and whiten all the inside of the 
cylinder with paint so as to cast as much light as pos- 



THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 355 

sible on the under side of the ball. Shape this ball 
somewhat like a pin-head flattened a little on top. 
Or make it round if you choose. Adapt the size to 
your convenience. You can now use this as an open 
sight with the open back sight, or can use it with a 
peep-sight on the stock. It works well either way. 
If you wish it shaded you need only a little slide of 
bent tin to slip over the cylinder. By cutting out the 
top a little more you can insert two threads or arms 
with different-sized balls, or one of silver and the 
other of gold. These arms should be set at right 
angles and work on a pivot in the center. It is easy 
to set them so as to come exactly to the same place, 
one lying flat when the other is up. They can be 
easily changed with the finger or a stick. After they 
are set in, a strip of wire may be soldered over the 
top where it was cut away to admit them. 

Beyond the importance of some flatness at the top 
of a plain open sight to insure good horizontal shoot- 
ing, the fineness or coarseness of sights is very much 
a matter of what the eye is accustomed to. Except 
at long distances, one can with practice soon do ex- 
cellent shooting with a tolerably coarse sight, and ex- 
cellent quick shooting with a fine sight. But it must 
be remembered that much of your shooting must be 
done in a dim light. 

Bold indeed must one be to say a word in deroga- 
tion of the venerable and fashionable buckhorn sight. 
But, even at the risk of being considered too iconoclas- 
tic, I must mildly insinuate that very good shooting 
can be done without the aid of this long-revered idol. 

One who has never tried it would be surprised to 
see how well he can shoot over the open barrel with 



356 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

only a small front sight. The eye takes the center of 
the barrel as naturally as a duck to water. The main 
use of a back sight is to cut off the amount of the 
front sight necessary to give the right horizontal 
range. Getting the vertical range is mere child's 
play compared with this. For doing this the high 
sides or horns of the buckhorn or back sight are of 
no use whatever. Their only use is to prevent reflec- 
tion of light which would glimmer from the corners 
of a notch in a fiat-topped bar of iron. 

There is, however, one thing that these horns or 
sides do most fully accomplish. They cut off and 
partly destroy that clear and comprehensive view of 
everything ahead that is so important for running 
shots. They also actually delay one in " finding the 
sights," instead of aiding one as many suppose who 
have never tried anything else. The notch at the 
bottom, by pinching out the view of the front sight, 
prevents the eye from taking always the same exact 
amount of front sight, especially when the sunlight 
pours into the notch from in front or from behind. 
Almost the entire trouble that old-sighted persons 
have in shooting a rifle is with this notch, it being 
almost impossible for them to see the exact bottom 
and shape of it so as to align the front sight with it. 
Or as they express it, they "can't get the front sight 
down into the notch." When one has good sight and 
plenty of time first-class shooting can be done with 
the buckhorn sight. Possibly for very fine target- 
work it is a trifle better than any other open back 
sight. 

But for quick shooting, and especially for good 
horizontal-line shooting — quickly cutting off the right 
amount of front sight — I long ago discovered that a 



THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 357 

Straight short bar, without horns, scoops, or notches 
of any kind, was far superior, especially for quickness. 
And on the vertical-line shooting there is no such dif- 
ference as would be supposed. The eye finds the 
center of it so instinctively that you do not have to 
look for it at all. You merely raise the rifle and look 
for the proper amount of front sight, or " the right 
bead." Then the eye finds the center so exactly that 
except possibly for the very finest kind of target- 
shooting, you can detect no difference. I ?,a.y possibly, 
for I have never tried it on anything finer than an 
inch bull's-eye at twenty yards — that being about my 
outside limit with any rifle. But a dozen or more of 
my acquaintances have at the first trial with my rifle 
so sighted shot exactly the same as with their own. 
Many of my friends have adopted it; all of them are 
pleased with it; none desire any other. One friend 
made the best shooting with it at bullet-holes and 
rabbits running that he has ever made with anything. 
This may be used as well with the globe-sight above 
described as the buckhorn may be. 

The back sight I use is a straight bar of hard black 
rubber about thirty-five hundredths of an inch wide, 
perfectly level on top. Iron or bone soaked with ink 
will do as well; but iron should be kept corroded with 
tincture of iodine and then blackened with ink. With 
such a sight and ivory on the ball in front you can 
swing your rifle around the horizon in the sun and see 
no change of light-center and not a glimmer from the 
bar. And you can shoot ten degrees closer to the 
sun's eye with them than with any other set of open 
sights. The very best of all is a piece of hard sole- 
leather, made still harder by boiling and hammering 
and drying in an oven. Soaked with ink, not a ray 



358 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

of light will this cast. It can be screwed in through 
a hole. 

If, however, j^ou prefer a notch, you need no horns 
around it. Cut a notch with a knife only a line or 
two deep in the center of the bar, keep well rusted 
with iodine and ink, and you have all the advantages 
of the buckhorn, with its disadvantages greatly modi- 
fied. Iodine and ink are in fact indispensable for 
keeping any back sight of iron in proper order, and 
should be frequently applied; the iodine a day or two 
before the ink. But give the straight bar a fair trial 
and you will not want notches. 

Elevating-sights upon a rifie are very prone to tempt 
one into using them where the level sight only should 
be used. For this reason many hunters will not have 
them upon a rifie at all. This, however, is unwise. 
The remedy is not to discard them, but learn to use 
them properly. Just so surely as the game is beyond 
the natural point blank of your rifle, so surely must 
the rifle-ball rise in its flight to reach it. There are 
four ways of making it do this: 

ist. Sighting rifle to " artificial point blank." 

2d. Taking a fuller view of front sight, or, as it is 
called, "a coarse bead." 

3d. Holding high on game. 

4th. Elevating the back sight. 

The great trouble with all these methods is that of 
all long-range shooting — the calculation of distance. 
The artificial point-blank is no better than any 
elevated sight except in requiring no adjustment. 
Unless the game happens to be at the right distance 
it has no advantages. And inside of that distance it 
is as much a nuisance as level sights are beyond their 
proper distance. 



THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 359 

Holding high on game is well enough up to a cer- 
tain point; but as soon as the game is so far off that 
you have to hold entirely above the body, then arises 
the same trouble that makes the "coarse bead" unre- 
liable beyond the same point; to wit, it involves a 
double guess where a single guess is bad enough. 
It involves not only a guess at the distance, but a 
guess at the distance you are holding above the 
game, or a guess at the amount of front sight you are 
taking. The eye cannot every time accurately mea- 
sure off the same amount of front sight even when 
you know just how much you want. And at a hun- 
dred and fifty or two hundred yards the eye, in mea- 
suring off a yard or so above a deer's back, will be ex- 
tremely apt to be a foot or so out of the way. 

A good elevating-sight, when tested and marked 
entirely avoids the second trouble. It involves only 
the estimate of distance. And this difficulty is no 
worse than in the other cases. But the sight should 
be thoroughly tried at a target and marked for dif- 
ferent distances. The factory markings are not at all 
reliable. 

The common elevation on the open back sight — a 
small set of steps — is of very little use beyond the 
second or third step. The best way to use it is to 
have the first step for the level sight or natural point 
blank of your rifle. Then file the second step so as 
to make an artificial point blank of a hundred yards. 
File the third step so as to raise the point blank to a 
hundred and fifty yards, and cut away the front edge 
of this step so that it can be pushed into place in a 
second with the thumb instead of requiring both 
hands and a minute's time to adjust it. This is about 
the best adjustment for the woods. Carry the rifle 



360 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

with back sights set on the middle step. This is 
better than having it firmly fixed at the lowest point 
blank you wish to use. For all close shots where 
there is much danger of overshooting, as in bad light, 
against the sun, down hill, etc., slip out the elevator 
to the first step, — provided you have time. Use the 
second step for all else up to a hundred and fifty 
yards; that is, what appears to be a hundred and 
fifty yards. Use the third step for all beyond that up 
to what you consider two hundred yards. This dis- 
count of fifty yards on your estimate of distance is 
intended only for cases where you have no time to 
make any careful estimate. But you had better dis- 
count twenty-five at least, even where you have time. 
Especially is this the case in the woods. This arrange- 
ment of open back sights is better than leaf-sights, etc. 

Beyond two hundred yards open sights, even when 
very fine, begin to get unreliable. And coarse sights 
begin to be so at a hundred and fifty yards. For dis- 
tances beyond two hundred yards there is nothing 
like an elevating peep-sight on the rifle-stock. This 
may be used with a globe-sight at the muzzle-end or 
with a plain open front sight, ranging the top of it 
with the center of the hole. 

The elevating principle of Lyman's back sight is 
very good — the best perhaps up to ordinary ranges 
for game. It also gives two holes, a fine and a coarse 
hole. 

There is, however, no need of any such fine hole as 
is generally used in peep-sights. It is too hard to find 
the game through it, especially in the woods. The 
eye finds the center of a large hole just about as ac- 
curately as it does the center of a small one. 

The common sliding elevation of the rear peep- 



THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 361 

sight as now placed upon many rifles can be much 
improved by the following plan; and taken for all 
distances is perhaps the best elevating-sight there is: 
Ream out the peep-hole to the size of a large pin-head 
and rust it with iodine. Find the lowest point at 
which you wish to use it; say a hundred and fifty 
yards if your open sights be coarse, two hundred 
if very fine. Put a drop of solder on the track there 
so that it will stop at that exact point when suddenly 
pushed down. Next find the two-hundred- or two- 
hundred-and-fifty-yard point, or fifty yards above sol- 
der, and cut a deep mark there that, if necessary, can 
be found with the thumb-nail while you are watch- 
ing game. Put similar marks at the three-hundred- 
yard and three-hundred-and-fifty-yard point, etc. 
Then carry the slide on the lowest mark above the 
solder. To push it from there to the solder is no 
trouble whatever. You will rarely need to raise it 
above where it is. If you do, it can be quite easily 
done. It is best not to shift the sights for a slight 
variance above or below the game; but when you see 
a ball strike above or below, hold a little lower or 
higher the next time. This will be better than at- 
tempting to use twenty-five-yard intervals. The 
quickness of finding this sight with the eye can be 
increased by cutting away the upper part of the plate 
containing the peep-hole, so that the upper half of 
the hole is like a half-ring. 

A telescopic sight will do finer work than any sight 
that can be put on a rifle. But of course the same 
trouble of estimating distance remains. Up to three 
hundred yards globe and peep sights are accurate 
enough if you know your distance. A telescopic 
sight is troublesome and bungling; is in the way of 



362 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

open sights on the barrel; the open sight upon top of 
it is too troublesome to find for quick shooting; and 
all quick work through it is nearly impossible. 

The back open sight is generally set farther back 
than it should be. Theoretically it will in this way 
do better shooting, any variation being more appar- 
ent. Practically it will do no such thing. Set six 
inches farther up the barrel, the difference can hardly 
be detected at the target. Whatever is lost by the 
difference in appearance of variation is gained by the 
greater clearness of the outlines of the back sight. 
This is important even to young eyes, and especially 
to aged ones. So set, a sight is also more quickly 
taken by the eye, its center is more easily held, and it 
will cut off the proper amount of front sight more 
distinctly. 

Having chosen the kind and shape of sights, the 
very important question of how to adjust them still 
remains. 

All rifles shoot for a short distance on a line prac- 
tically level. That is, if the line of the sights be ad- 
justed perfectly parallel with the axes of the bore, 
there will still be a distance at which the fall of the 
bullet will be almost inappreciable. And even after 
the fall becomes appreciable there still remains a dis- 
tance beyond that point where the fall may be disre- 
garded in shooting at game. Both of these points 
are called indiscriminately and carelessly the " natural 
point-blank." This is a very unphilosophical term, 
but it is so common and expresses a practical truth 
so well that it may as well be retained. For practical 
purposes it may best be defined as that distance at 
which the ball will strike the regulation bull's-eye for 
that distance without rising in its flight. This will 



THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 363 

cover nearly all game that is ever shot at. For in- 
stance, the bull's-eye for twenty-five yards is one inch, 
for fifty yards is two inches, for seventy-five yards is 
three inches, for a hundred yards is four inches, cor- 
responding to a grouse's head at ten yards, a squir- 
rel's head at twenty-five yards, a duck's or hare's body 
at a hundred yards, a turkey at a hundred and fitty 
yards, a deer or antelope at two hundred, an elk at 
two hundred and fifty, a buffalo at three hundred, etc., 
all on the same scale. 

This " natural point-blank" is much less for all rifles 
than is commonly supposed. In many it is not fifty 
yards. It probably cannot be made to exceed a hun- 
dred and thirty yards in any rifle. Conceding that 
outside of the plains three fourths of the chances to 
kill game fall inside of a hundred and forty yards, 
the vast importance of this point-blank is at once ap- 
parent. Every rod that can be added to it is more 
than equal to a yard addbd to the killing range of a 
shot-gun. It is often said in answer to this that more 
deer are killed inside of seventy-five yards than be- 
yond it. Admitted; but where are the most missed? 
Between seventy-five and a hundred and fifty yards. 
And why are the most of them missed there ? By 
undershooting, and overshooting in attempting to 
avoid undershooting. Every one should try his 
rifle and find out just what its " natural point-blank" 
is. 

By so adjusting the sights as to make the ball rise 
in its flight and sink into the mark another point 
biank may be given to it. This is the point where 
the ball descends into and cuts the line of sights after 
rising above it. Thus when a Winchester rifle of 
'73 model is sighted to hit the bull's-eye at two 



364 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

hundred yards, the ball at ten or fifteen yards from 
the muzzle rises into and cuts the level line of sights, 
keeps above the line of sights, rising all the way 
to about a hundred and ten yards, then descends 
toward the line of sights, and touches it again at two 
hundred yards — the bull's-eye. This is called the 
" artificial point-blank," and may be varied to any 
distance to which the rifle may shoot. It is contended 
by good authority, and on very strong grounds too, 
that this is the only point-blank, that no such thing 
as a natural point-blank exists, and that the distinc- 
tion should be abolished as absurd. My answer is, 
that though according to strict philosophy there may 
be no natural point-blank, yet that practically there is; 
that the idea is firmly lodged in the heads of the great 
majority and never can be dislodged; and, above all, 
that there is no sounder philosophy than that which 
recognizes a useful, practical truth, although it may 
be in fact an error. 

By the artificial point-blank all the practical advan- 
tages of the natural point-blank may not only be re- 
tained but much extended. Suppose a rifle to have 
a natural point-blank of seventy-five yards, the ball 
at that point being about an inch and a half below the 
center. Now if the ball had been made to just cross 
the line of sights at forty yards, it would be in the 
center of the mark at eighty yards and not over 
an inch below it at a hundred yards. And yet it 
would not have missed a squirrel's head anywhere 
along the line. In this way a rifle throwing a very 
swift large ball may be made to shoot to a hundred 
and thirty or a hundred and forty yards, so that one 
can shoot all along the line at small marks and yet 
notice neither rise nor fall so long as he shoots off- 



.;^^- 







A Good Shot. 



THE SIGHTING OF HUNTING-RIFLES. 365 

hand and with open sights. And a very swift and 
velocity-sustaining ball may be thus sent for a hun- 
dred and seventy yards without missing a turkey any- 
where along the line. 

But if the rise at the middle of the course be too 
great there is, as we have seen, a loss. And this may 
be so great as to overbalance the advantage. A rifle 
sighted to a point blank too far off, or having so slow 
a ball that it has to rise high to reach a short point- 
blank, will miss far more game inside of a hundred 
and fifty yards than it will catch beyond that point. 
Such is the case with many rifles as they come from 
the factory; and attempting to hold low enough 
with them is one of the most delusive things in the 
world. 

Keeping, then, clearly in mind that the less rise 
there is to the ball the better, the adjustments of the 
sights for large game will depend entirely upon the 
kind of ground upon which you are to hunt. Remem- 
ber, however, that, on account of the strong tendency 
to overshoot, an inch of rise above is in the long-run 
as bad as two inches of fall below or three inches of 
deviation to either side the mark. And remember the 
natural tendency to overestimate the distance at which 
most game is killed, and that the most advantageous 
point at which to shoot at game is much closer than is 
commonly supposed. 

The following rises of bullets at the middle point 
will, I think, be fully enough, supposing you use a 
swift ball: 

For the woods, one inch. 

For the open hilly ground, two and a half inches. 

For the plains, four inches. 

No rise of ball higher than the above should be 



366 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

made with the open sights if you are to do any shoot- 
ing at running game. If you are to take only stand- 
ing shots you may set them as much higher, being 
very careful to shoot low at the midway point, and 
also down hill, or in dim light, against the sun, etc. 



LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 367 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE LOADING, CARE, AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 

ALTHOUGH upon principle the rotation of a rifle- 
ball balances inequalities in it as rotation does in a 
spinning top, yet the fact is that the effect of inequal- 
ities is simply reduced and not annulled. Though 
defectively cast balls may appear to shoot quite well, 
yet they will not average such accurate work as well- 
made ones; and however true some of them may go, 
any one of them is liable to stray at the very time 
when you most depend upon it. Lead for casting 
balls should be melted in a large ladle; or a small 
pot is better. It should be stirred to a uniform den- 
sity, kept clear of dross, kept at a uniform heat, and 
not allowed to get too hot. It should be dipped 
out with a clay pipe or iron spoon, which should also 
be kept at the same temperature by being kept im- 
mersed in the molten lead. 

It used to be thought that the softest lead is the 
best. This is true enough for solid balls as far as 
killing effect is concerned. The softest lead is not 
only the heaviest, but will expand the most upon 
■■triking. For a muzzle loader with round ball or 
ohort cylindrical or conical ball it is probably the 
best metal. But whether softness is necessary for 
accuracy in any rifle, however light the ball, may well 
be doubted. It is, however, in such cases accurate 
enough. 



368 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

But where the ball is very long and heavy relatively 
to its diameter it starts so much more slowly that if 
soft it may be mashed out of shape before fairly 
under way. This is the case with the breech-loader, 
especially with a heavy charge of powder. This has 
already been fully considered. The best remedy for 
this is the admixture of tin with the lead. Five per 
cent of tin or ten per cent of common solder will 
improve the shooting of any ball from a breech- 
loader, whether long or short, round or cylindrical, 
and whether shot naked or patched. Double this 
quantity is sometimes necessary for very long balls. 
And even double that may be used. I once tried 
some balls that were about forty per cent tin, so hard 
I could hardly hammer them into the shell with the 
loading-tools. I shot these naked from a Maynard 
rifle, and they did the best work I have ever seen from 
a breech-loader. Five of them in succession I placed 
in a four-inch ring at two hundred yards, with globe- 
sights and rest of course. Several more fired at 
short distances cut into the same hole with almost 
the regularity of a muzzle-loader. The same is the 
case with round balls, which generally must be hard- 
ened to work well in a breech-loader. It is possible 
that a little tin in the ball might improve its accuracy 
even when fired from a muzzle-loader, though I have 
never tried it. 

The molds should be kept hot during the casting. 
Wrap the handles well with buckskin and let the 
molds get as hot as they please. Pour in only enough 
for one bullet at a time, putting the dipper back into 
the pot to keep hot. Pour in enough to fully fill the 
entrance-hole, and jar the molds a bit so as to have 
the metal well settled. In shaking balls out of the 



LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 369 

molds have a mat of cloth or paper to drop them on, 
and do not let them strike each other hard, as when 
hot they are very easily indented. 

Reject every defective ball. If the molds are new 
and make wrinkled balls, smoke them in a candle, 
burn grease in them, wipe thoroughly, resmoke and 
rewipe, etc. If you have many defective balls, keep 
them to melt over together with some more soft 
lead, as they may be too hard to load easily if re- 
melted ; and if put in the pot with the others they 
may affect the uniformity of the hardness of the rest. 
Where balls are to be patched they should be smoothed 
off and made even with a swedge. And even when 
to be shot naked this will improve them. 

These matters look like needless niceties. Of course 
good shooting may be done with carelessly made balls. 
But to observe this care will not make fifteen minutes' 
difference in the whole time of casting, and may some 
time save you a deer or an antelope. All through 
your dealings with the rifle observe this rule: when- 
ever care costs little or nothing, use it. 

It used to be a maxim of the old hunters that " too 
much powder makes a ball fly wild." There is some 
truth in this if the ball be soft and the twist of the 
rifle swift, and plenty of truth in it if the ball be both 
soft and long. But if the ball be short or round and 
well hardened with tin and the twist slow, the amount 
of powder that may be used without affecting accu- 
racy seems to be unlimited. 

It may be said that a small rifle cannot burn a large 
charge. Literally that is true. However small an 
amount of powder be put in a gun, some of it will 
probably be thrown out unburned unless in a very 
long barrel. But the greater the charge the greater 



370 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

the amount actually burned, although the proportion- 
ate amount burned will of course be less; just as two 
thirds of six drams is actually more than three fourths 
of four drams, etc. 

More powder can be used with effect behind round 
or short balls than behind very long ones. The effect 
of an increase of charge is noticeable at once in the 
straighter trajectory of the ball at short range, while 
the increase of recoil amounts to little. The increase 
of the charge of powder behind a long heavy ball is 
noticeable at once at the shoulder, but is hardly no- 
ticeable upon the ball's trajectory until it passes five 
hundred or six hundred yards, when extra force be- 
gins to show itself. The reason is that the increase 
of velocity has been too slight to materially straighten 
the curve of first two hundred yards or so. But this 
very slight velocity, uniting with the great weight of 
the long ball, has made a very material difference in 
momentum, upon which a long flight depends. It 
may, however, affect the trajectory by recoil, as we 
have seen under that head. As the killing effect of 
light balls depends materially upon velocity, one can 
hardly use too much powder behind them. 

For shot-guns both coarse and fine-grained powders 
have their champions. There is, however, now no 
dispute as to the best for a rifle. Fine powder used 
to be thought the best, and in a short barrel with a 
round ball doubtless will give a higher velocity. But 
coarse powder is generally quick enough, and for all 
long bullets is far the best. But where the bullet is 
not very long and you wish excessive force, as in an 
express rifle, it is well to put half a charge of coarse 
powder in the shell first with half a charge of fine 
upon the top of it. This will give a steady start and 



LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 371 

a swift send-off. But fine powder being quicker than 
coarse is more liable to jam or "upset" a ball, unless 
used upon this compensating principle. 

At short range, especially with round or short bul- 
let, a trifling difference in the quantity of powder or 
in its dryness is not very material. But, where pos- 
sible, care should be used even in this respect. And 
the longer the ball and the farther you wish to shoot 
the more essential becomes this care, and the more 
essential becomes the even setting of the powder in 
the shell ; and take care not to break the grains by 
hard pounding, etc. More powder may be put in a 
shell, and it will be more evenly packed, by pouring it 
into the shell through a tube a yard or so in length. 

The mouth of the shell should be kept clean with 
diluted vinegar and a rag. The balls, if shot naked, 
should be thoroughly greased with tallow, which in 
hot weather may be mixed with a little beeswax, but 
in winter should be used pure. Beeswax dirties a 
rifle fast and should be used only when necessary, as 
in hot weather. A wad or two of heavy leather be- 
neath the ball will do no harm, and will be apt to 
improve the shooting by preventing the flashing of 
fire around the ball as it passes into the grooves. 

But no rifle will shoot a long series of naked balls 
as well as one of patched ones. And if you get any 
rifle besides a repeater you should have it chambered 
and the shells fixed for shooting patched balls. I 
say "besides a repeater," because they are now all 
made for shooting naked balls. But I see no reason 
why such a fine rifle as the Winchester express should 
not be made to shoot patched balls, and see no reason 
why it could not. 

Long balls are patched with bank-note paper, gold- 



372 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

beater's skin, bladder, or parchment. Fair patching 
for deep-seated balls may be made of good strong 
linen smeared until stiff with hot tallow. This makes 
good patching for a muzzle-loader. Parchment is the' 
best, and under the head of dressing buckskin I will 
show how to make some very easily that will be far 
superior in toughness to any you can buy. The 
material is cut into strips that will roll once and a half 
times or twice or two and a half times around the 
ball, according to thickness of material. It is wet 
with a little gum-arabic water, then rolled around 
the ball so as to cover about two thirds of its base, and 
the whole should then be dropped into a hole in a 
block to dry in that shape. You will, however, do 
well to buy a cartridge already patched and examine 
it before following directions from any one. 

To load round balls so as to shoot accurately in a 
breech-loader is no trifling matter and has puzzled 
many a one. To be shot naked they must be made 
very hard. They must fit very tight. Plently of 
grease must be put around them and a heavy leather 
wad below them. Then they may work fairly well. 

But for good work they also must be patched. They 
cannot, however, be patched and pushed into the 
shell as into the muzzle of a muzzle-loader. The 
shoulder of the rifle will strip off the patch half the 
time. The following plan I find the most certain, and 
have picked up scores of patches in front of the rifle 
without finding any sign of stripping, tearing, or burn- 
ing. Putting on a thick leather wad — wads are even 
more essential under a round ball than under the 
cylindrical, as the fire leaks around them more — I cut 
a strip of strong parchment well greased and about 
three quarters of an inch wide and just long enough 



LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 373 

to go once around inside the shell. Into this I push 
the ball, and turning over the edges of the patch put 
half a split wad upon the top to keep out dirt, etc. If 
round balls loaded in this way are not as accurate (at 
short range, of course) as the long ones, the fault is in 
the shoulder of the rifle-chamber. It is either too 
sharp or too far from the end of the cartridge, or some- 
thing of the kind. Buckskin makes even better patch- 
ing than parchment, but is harder to use with full 
shells. The best patching varies, however, with rifles, 
and must be ascertained by experiment. This is true 
even of the muzzle-loader, and even more so of the 
breech-loader. 

Patched balls like naked ones should fit very tight 
in the shell. And in order to get them in straight 
and prevent swelling the shell so as to cause it to 
stick, it is better where the balls are deep-seated in 
the shell, as round ones generally are, to put the shell 
into a solid tube of metal such as is used as a " loader" 
to retain the shell when the ball is driven home. The 
more lightly the ball sits in the shell the nearer it 
comes to being in the grooves when receiving the first 
blow of the powder, and therefore the better it will 
shoot, all else being equal. In such case you may not 
be able to drive the ball in with the loader without 
damaging the patch, unless you use much care. But 
with the loader you can get it in tighter and generally 
much more true than by hand. If you use a double 
rifle, the balls must fit tight enough to prevent recoil 
throwing them in the next barrel out of the shell into 
the chamber. 

The shoulders of some rifles, especially of those 
made several years ago, may need some beveling off or 
other fixing before they will shoot patched balls well, 



374 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

as the shoulder may strip or cut the patch. Care 
must also be taken in carrying patched balls; for if 
the patch runs outside of the shell, as it should do for 
all long bullets or very accurate shooting, it will get 
torn or frayed in carrying. It should be carried in a 
belt that will protect it perfectly. A leather belt is 
the surest for this purpose. But every few days the 
cartridges should be taken out and wiped free from 
the verdigris that accumulates on shells in a leather 
belt. For other shells canvas makes a better belt. 

The cleaning of the rifle is a matter of much more 
importance than is generally supposed. Because a 
rifle may often shoot quite well when it is dirty many 
suppose that it either needs no cleaning or else cleans 
itself. All rifles need cleaning after every shot; that 
is, to do their best work. No rifle cleans itself except 
a muzzle-loader, and wiping will improve the shoot- 
ing even of that. When shooting in damp air, clean- 
ing is of less importance than in dry air, though its 
neglect may at any moment cause even the best breech- 
loader to throw a "wild " ball. But when shooting in 
dry air, especially on a hot day, the dirt burns so dry 
and hard that the bullet cannot push it out or slide 
over it without being affected by the roughness. A 
barrel containing such dirt is liable at any time to cut 
or even strip a patch, and is quite sure to wipe off 
lead from a naked ball. I have seen a Winchester of 
1873 model shoot all over a two-foot candle-box at 
thirty yards after firing six or seven shots from it; 
and then after two or three good wipes shoot into a 
two-inch ring on the same box. The more powder 
you shoot, and the longer the barrel of the rifle, the 
greater the necessity of cleaning. 

Of course no one can stop to clean when shooting 



LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 375 

at game. But when no more game is in sight there is 
generally no reason for not cleaning except laziness. 
The power of that I must myself admit. The more 
unnecessary work invention removes, the moie we shirk 
what necessary work remains. 

Cleaning in the field is so easy a matter that it is 
astonishing how we neglect it. A pocket wiper can 
be made and carried by every one. Every rifle should 
have a wiping-rod in the stock as does the Winchester. 

Wet dirt can nearly always be taken out with a dry 
rag. Dry dirt will generally yield to it after the bar- 
rel has been breathed into a few minutes. When in 
haste you may pour water or any other convenient 
substitute. 

Perfect cleaning may not be always convenient in 
the field, but there is no excuse for neglect of it, or 
for makeshifts of any kind when at home or in camp. 
The rifle should always be cleaned and oiled at night 
if it has been used during the day. Cleaning has 
been so thoroughly tested at the target that it is quite 
useless for any " practical man" to jump up and tell 
us how much game, etc., he kills with a dirty rifle, 
etc. We know all that. Of course it can be neglected 
as well as a dozen other points may be. The only 
question is, is such neglect profitable when all you 
gain by it is such a trifling bit of personal comfort? 

Some say, " never pour water in a fine gun." Water 
hurts a gun just as it does a razor — when it is left on 
the metal. But a razor may be wet every day for a 
hundred years without injury from rust. So may a 
gun. There is absolutely nothing that takes hold of 
powder-dirt like water. Half the substitutes for it, 
such as kerosene, benzine, alcohol, etc., are heartless 
hoaxes and make thrice the labor that water does. If 



376 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

new Strong cloth be used for wiping there will be no 
danger from water. It is a common idea that any old 
rag will do to clean a gun with. On the contrary, to 
clean a gun well requires good, strong, new, and 
rough cloth. Nothing lighter than heavy unbleached 
muslin can be relied on to bring all the dirt, lead, and 
dampness from a rifle. 

For cleaning, a strong rod of the best hickory 
should be used, notched and jagged instead of hav- 
ing a miserable eye or hook at the end, so that a 
heavy wad of cloth may be used without jamming. 
And this wad of cloth should occasionally be made so 
tight that the rod has to be driven against something 
solid to force it through. Only in this way can you 
be sure that your rifle is not leaded. The cloth thus 
driven through will either bring out the lead or show 
that it has passed lead. 

For greasing, almost any animal or //^//-vegetable 
oil is good. Rattlesnake-oil has more body than al- 
most any other oil and is often easy to make. An 
excellent oil is made by cooking the marrow of a 
deer's legs. Vaseline and cosmoline are also good. 
But for a rust preventive scarcely anything excels 
mercurial ointment. Too much grease, however, 
may overshoot the mark. Enough is enough, and a 
tight and well-greased rag or bit of buckskin forced 
through the barrel once or twice is best. 

Should your rifle happen to get rusty inside it 
should be attended to at once. This had better be 
intrusted to a reliable gunsmith. But if none is at 
hand you had better do it yourself than leave it so. 
Very fine emery is safe enough for any one to use 
who is careful, but the rag should be well oiled and 
run back and forth through the barrel several times 



LOADING AND MANAGEMENT OF RIFLES. 377 

before the emery is applied to it. Apply it as evenly 
as possible, make the stroke long and steady, use 
plenty of oil, and keep up the polishing no longer 
than is necessary. Emery may, however, be as hard 
to get as a gunsmith. In such case use fine wood- 
ashes and plenty of muscle, and in either case have 
the barrel firmly lashed or fastened to something 
solid. 

But no amount of care with a rifle will obviate the 
necessity of practice with it in order to do good 
shooting. And this practice should be in the field, 
at natural marks, at varying distances, and in vary- 
ing play of light and shade. It should be up hill and 
down hill, across valleys, etc. etc. Beyond the ordi- 
nary and obvious reasons for this I will mention an- 
other which affects me very much and must affect 
every one somewhat; viz., ocular aberration, or the 
impossibility of always measuring off with the eye 
the same exact amount of front sight necessary for 
good shooting on the horizontal line. The difference 
on the front sight of the thickness of two sheets of 
paper may cause a miss at one hundred yards. Who 
without much practice can tell the edge of six sheets 
of paper pressed together at the edge and held four 
feet from his eye from eight sheets held the same 
way? It would be hard enough even if both were 
seen side by side. Get a good carpenter to make you 
a foot-rule from memory, or ask a good draughtsman 
to mark you out by his eye a dozen or so separate 
one-eighth parts of an inch. Then get him to meas- 
ure them and you will see one great cause of bad 
shooting. 

All through the subject of rifles I have for brevity 
omitted much that is generally known, such as how 



378 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

to load a muzzle-loader, etc., and much that can be 
left to the reader's common-sense, such as which way 
to move a rifle-sight to make it shoot high or low, or 
to right or left, etc. 



MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 379 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. ADVICE. CONCLUSION. 

There is a large amount of useful lore about wood- 
craft, camping, fitting out, etc. etc. etc., which must 
necessarily be omitted from such a work as this, espe- 
cially as it can be found elsewhere. I therefore con- 
fine myself entirely to such few points as are either 
not considered in other works that I have seen or else 
are so generally treated as to be of little use. 

White clothes are of little use for hunting wild 
deer except upon open ground with snow, and even 
then the face and rifle should be concealed as much 
as possible. In timber your motion across tree-trunks 
is caught by the deer's eye so quickly that you can 
relax no caution even with the whitest outfit you can 
get. Gray or brown, according to the color of your 
general background, is better for general use. 

Clothes should not be stiff or harsh so as to make a 
noise against brush, and the coat should have no 
skirts or tail. Jackets made by cutting off the lower 
six inches of woolen shirts, slitting up the front and 
adding two or three buttons, are very good things to 
wear. Two or three may be put on for cold weather 
and fastened at the bottom with the cartridge-belt. 
An extra one may be tucked into the belt behind. A 
linen jacket over two or three of these will shed rain 
about as long as anything and stop considerable 
wind. 



380 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

For durability buckskin is as important as it is to 
the hero of a sporting romance. It is also very 
good for dry cold weather. For warm or wet weather 
it is a nuisance. Still it is soft against brush, and pants 
will be much better if faced in front with it to half way 
above the knee and two thirds the way around on 
each side. For this purpose it should always be well 
smoked so as to dry soft when wet. 

The simpler and lighter your dress the better. An 
immense butcher-knife, hatchet, pistol, watch, whisky- 
flask, etc. etc. etc., may, like the fifth wheel of a wagon, 
come handy once in a year or two. But it hardly pays 
to pack a fifth wheel around with one. Everything 
unnecessary, all leggings, fancy clothes, and " toggery" 
of every sort, are nuisances. The most valuable know- 
ledge in the world is to know what we can dispense 
with. And nowhere is this more valuable than in 
getting up a still-hunting outfit. 

Every kind of sole-leather add to your litany. Go 
not astray on " deer-stalker's shoes," " English walking- 
shoes," or "hunting-boots" of any kind. If you can- 
not wear moccasins, get a pair of shoes made with 
soft heels and soles; the latter projecting at the edge 
so that a new piece of soft leather may be added in a 
few moments with an awl and buckskin thong when 
the first is worn through. India-rubber overshoes are 
very good worn loose without boots, but are uncom- 
fortable on the feet. 

Every one who hunts much should get his feet 
accustomed to moccasins. When the foot is once 
toughened to them, which, with care in beginning 
gradually, will occur in two weeks and often less, 
nothing can equal them for quiet and rapid traveling. 
On some kinds of ground it is almost impossible to 



MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 381 

approach wild deer without them. One can walk 
farther in them with less fatigue, with less slipping on 
rocics, hill-sides, dry grass, etc., and less danger of 
spraining an ankle, tripping, or falling, than with any- 
thing else that can be worn. In dry cold snow, when 
worn with two or three pairs of woolen socks or a 
doubled piece of heavy woolen blanket wrapped out- 
side of one pair, they are absolutely unapproachable 
for ease and comfort. And even in wet snow or wet 
grass, mud, etc., they are as good as anything that 
can be worn without making too much noise, except 
india-rubber shoes. They will hold you on any slope 
where anything but spiked shoes can hold you, and 
are far better than those for running along rocks, 
logs, etc. The uppers, if of good material, will last 
as long as those of a good pair of boots. New soles 
can be speedily cut out of old boot-legs, and put on 
with an awl and buckskin thong. 

The best of all moccasins are those of buckskin. 
As buying cannot always be depended upon — except 
buying poor ones — one who expects to hunt much 
should learn to make his own moccasins. This is a 
very trifling matter for anyone of any ingenuity; and 
with a little practice such a one can soon make them 
as shapely as any he can buy. 

The easiest pattern to make is that of the Sioux 
Indians. A piece of buckskin the exact length of the 
foot and about seven and a half inches wide (for a No. 7 
foot) is first cut out. This should be cut from the 
rump or along the back of the hide. To insure even 
cutting it should be laid on a board, the piece marked 
out with a square and lead-pencil, perfectly square- 
cornered, and then cut with a sharp knife so that 
there is no pulling it out of shape. It is then folded 



382 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

once lengthwise, and about a quarter of an inch of 
the lower corner of one end rounded off, so as to keep 
the toe from being too sharp-pointed. The two ends 
are then sewed up. But when you get within four 
fifths of an inch of the end of the heel press it down 
upon a board and cut off the lower part, so that when 
sewed up it will look like a narrow J inverted, thus: 
J_, You may, however, sew it straight down, as it is 
mainly a matter of " looks." The thing now looks a 
little like a birch canoe with a pretty straight bow. 
This bow is then gathered to a tongue rounded to an 
oval end in front and fastened across the center of 
the canoe. The whole thing must be sewed inside 
out, and every seam should be sewed with a strip of 
heavy buckskin in it to protect the stitches. A buck- 
skin needle — a cutting needle — should be used with 
heavy waxed linen thread, and the seams run over 
twice for durability. But an awl and shoemaker's 
"waxed end," or a buckskin thong with the end 
waxed and twisted, is better yet. A person of any in- 
genuity cannot fail to make at the first trial a paif 
that will answer all demands but those of beauty. 
Tops three or four inches high should then be added, 
and both buttoned to a button in the center of the 
tongue, and one buttoned to the other on one side of 
the ankle at the top. For snow these tops should be 
of cloth, as they wet too quickly if of buckskin. If the 
pantaloons be tied tightly around these at the ankle 
one may walk all day in dry cold snow and have his 
feet perfectly dry and warm. For keeping out dead 
grass and other tickling things a shield of leather may 
be placed inside under the tongue and reaching half 
way down the sides and half way to the tongue. This 
with heavy buckskin facing on your pantaloons hang- 



MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 383 

ing loose and low will also be about as good a guard 
against snake-bites as you can conveniently have. An 
inner sole of sheep-skin with the wool half sheared 
off may be necessary at first if the feet are tender. 

The most important part of every recipe for making 
buckskin is never given, and the rest is so generally 
stated as to be of little use. The important part is 
that the undertaking should always be sublet when- 
ever possible. It is tedious, tiresome, and disagree- 
able, the best way it can be done. Still there may 
be times in every hunter's life when he may have to 
make it himself. And every one should know how 
to do it. The operation requires no skill and may, 
moreover, be done by any common hand under your 
supervision. 

There is no tanning process about it. Leather is 
a chemical compound. Buckskin is simply the raw 
fiber broken up, loosened, and retained from stiffening 
again when wet. 

The hair, the fine little outer skin in which it is em- 
bedded, called " the grain," and the fleshy and mem- 
branous parts adhering to the inside must first be re- 
moved. To do this is no trifling matter unless one 
knows just how, and then it is simple enough though 
it takes work. Thf^ hide is first soaked in water from 
two to five oi six days, according to temperature of 
water. In warm water a dry hide will soften in two 
days, and soon after that will begin to spoil. In cold 
water it may, and often must, be left longer. A hide 
will be soft enough when first stripped from the deer, 
but will be better if left a day or two in water. If 
stripped off from the neck downward a hide will be 
more easy to clean on the inside. 

A graining-log and knife are now necessary. A 



384 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

log of hard wood eight or nine feet long and six or 
eight inches thick, having about two or three feet of 
smooth hard surface on one side of one end, is fast- 
ened in the ground (under a root or something) 
so that the smooth end is about waist-high. Two 
auger-holes may be bored in it near this end and 
legs inserted. The hide thrown over that and held 
fast by pressing it with the waist against the end of 
the log, is in condition to clean. 

The knife must have a scraping edge and not a cut- 
ting edge. A rib of a horse or cow, back of a draw- 
knife, etc., may be used. But the best is the back of 
the blade of a common table-knife. Drive the blade 
lengthwise and half its depth into a piece of stick 
about eighteen inches long so as to leave two good 
handles on the stick. With a few minutes' trial you 
will get the proper stroke with this. 

A hide will generally " grain" better the way the 
hair runs. But the "grain" will stick in spots, and 
sometimes you must run over it in different direc- 
tions. Each side should be run over twice, so as to 
insure good cleaning. Clean them alternately. 

When cleaned, a hide may be softened at once. But 
if in no haste, let it dry and resoak it for a day. Then 
pull, haul, and stretch it in every part until it all be- 
comes white. Continue this until it is dry, rubbing 
out between the knuckles all places that show signs 
of stiffening. Should it be too hard to work soft the 
first time, resoak it and rub dry again. Sometimes 
this must be repeated two or three times. Stiff spots 
can, however, be moistened separately afterward by 
laying a damp cloth on them and rubbing them dry 
separately. The stretching of the fiber on a large 
hide is often no trifling matter. Pressing and saw- 



MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 385 

ing over the edge of a sharpened board a little over 
waist-high, turning the hide around each time, is 
about as effective a way as any. Two men standing 
in the sun and turning it around constantly can soon 
pull a common-sized hide soft. Stretching firmly in a 
strong frame and dancing on it until dry will stretch 
and loosen the toughest hide. 

A hide may be rubbed soft much quicker if brains 
be rubbed into it. When the fiber is loosened up so 
that the hide looks white, rub the brains of a deer or 
other animal into it. Or the brains may be dissolved 
in water and the hide soaked in it. Mashing in with 
the hand is, however, the quicker way. If one ap- 
plication is not enough, rub in more. Grease answers 
this purpose somewhat. But it is much inferior to 
brains and requires warm water and soap, with con- 
siderable work also to wash it out. Some may be 
left in, but the most of it must come out unless you 
wish an "oil-tanned" hide, which you do not, how- 
ever, for any purpose but strings. 

The oftener a hide is wet and rubbed soft the better 
it is for clothes etc. But where toughness is the main 
point, as for strings, etc., it should be softened no 
more than is necessary. Some hides are very ob- 
stinate, and cannot be worked soft the first time ex- 
cept by a person very strong in the hands, — and in 
patience. 

Without smoking, buckskin cannot be depended 
upon to dry soft when wet. Nothing will take its 
place. Smoked to lemon-color or light buff will gener- 
ally do. To get an even color a smoke-house and slow 
smoking is best. It may, however, be done in one day 
by setting a tight barrel or big box over a deep hole 
in the ground and forcing the smoke. Or it may be 



386 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

wrapped around poles over a hole so as to make a 
wigwam of it. 

I have tried sulphuric acid, lye, and the whole list 
of agents contained in all the recipes, and find them 
all useless nuisances. Some, such as the acid and lye, 
will soon ruin a hide if used too strong or too long. 
There is absolutely no chemical agent that will 
enable you to dispense with stretching and rubbing 
the hide hard and rapidly while it is drying. By 
chemical agents you may make leather. But buck- 
skin can be made only by mechanical means. Apply 
the work and the other things are needless. With- 
out the work they are unavailing. Excellent parch- 
ment for patching may be made from a fawn-skin by 
soaking it well with grease in the heat of the sun or 
fire, washing out about a third of it in blood-warm 
water, pulling the skin till white, then stretching it on 
a board tight and allowing it to dry hard. Dress it 
down with sand-paper and a knife-edge. 

It is but a few years since I would as soon have been 
seen hunting with kid gloves, a " biled shirt," and 
" plug" hat as with anything to eat about me. Most 
hunters, I think, have the same stupid pride about being 
" tough." But no man, no matter who he may be, can, 
in hunting with the rifle, afford to despise the advan- 
tage of being well fed. He may not feel weak or 
faint, he may flatter himself that he is not hungry. But 
want of food will be apt to affect his shooting never- 
theless; especially if he has a hill to climb, a run to 
make, or a very fine shot to make. Venison, cut in 
strips half an inch thick, soaked a day in strong 
Drine, and dried in the camp-fire smoke or in the 
chimney-corner at home, makes a very portable and 



MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 387 

substantial lunch, conduces more to that desirable 
solidity of muscle and nerve essential to good shoot- 
ing than anything else you can carry except beef, and, 
to say the least, is quite as palatable as doughnuts and 
similar " baby-feed," and takes up far less room. 

You may find your first half-dozen deer all standing 
broadside in plain open sight and close by; may hit 
every one at the first shot vj'iXh a dirty rifle carelessly 
loaded, and shoot every one dead in its tracks. I 
have myself seen deer so plenty and tame that a 
novice could do this. But beware how you conclude 
from such success that I have been unnecessarily 
particular in the advice I have given, or that deer- 
hunting is a thing to which you were specially born. 
Many of the most important principles of stalking 
deer and antelope are obtainable only by a consider- 
able amount of careful observation. You might hunt 
a week by the side of a careless and bad hunter and 
a week by the side of a careful and good one, and yet 
notice no difference in their work if judged by its suc- 
cess. The trouble is that neither one week nor two 
weeks will suffice to test any important point in hunt- 
ing of this kind. Follow sound principle whether you 
see its immediate results or not. Especially should it 
be followed where it costs nothing, such as raising 
your head slowly over ridges and taking your gun 
from your shoulder, etc. 

In no other branch of field-sports is there such an 
array of exceptions to nearly every rule. Sometimes 
these are so numerous as to require long observation 
to determine which is the rule and which the excep- 
tion. Often the exceptions are as important as the 
rule itself. In such case I have given them. But 



388 THE STILL-HUNTER. 

there are many others which have been necessarily 
omitted for want of space. On the whole, you cannot 
be too careful how you draw conclusions from a few 
instances. 

Sound principle often requires the entire disregard 
of a rule. Five times out of six it is useless to follow 
up a deer once started. Yet if deer are extremely 
scarce or you wish to go on the course the deer has 
gone, you had better follow him by all means. So 
when a single deer plunges into a very brushy hill- 
side the chances are very strong that you will see him 
no more. But it will cost you nothing to stand two 
or three minutes and watch for his appearance at 
some open place. And once in five or six times you 
may see him again and get a good shot. 

Other things must be decided solely upon common- 
sense. A man with hobnailed boots, bright-colored 
clothes, and big flop-hat gets as much game as one 
who wears moccasins, clothes of neutral color, and a 
small cap. Judging solely by visible results the one 
outfit is as good as the other. Yet your common- 
sense alone is enough to tell you that the latter outfit 
must be the best, and that the want of difference in 
results must be due to other causes. 

In scarcely any branch of life is one more apt to 
draw wrong conclusions from hasty observation than 
in hunting deer and antelope and shooting with the 
rifle. Passing over the whole host of absurd and 
contradictory theories held by good hunters and good 
shots, who either do not follow them in practice, or, 
if they do, succeed in spite of them by virtue of their 
other qualifications, I will mention a remarkable case 
of two gross errors resulting in success. 

A friend of mine had a rifle which he fully believed 



MOCCASINS, BUCKSKIN, ETC. 389 

had a natural point blank of two hundred yards. 
He supposed the ball would drop about two feet in 
the next hundred yards, or have a total drop of two 
feet for three hundred yards. These ideas he had got- 
ten as most hunters get their notions — from his im- 
agination and careless observation; never having tried 
his rifle. He saw a deer at three hundred yards as he 
supposed, sighted about two feet above its back, and 
down came the deer shot through the heart. He 
had never shot many deer, and of course was highly 
delighted with such a shot. He looked the ground 
over and felt satisfied he had not done himself justice. 
So he took the trouble to do what few ever do on long 
shots: he paced the distance. Rash man ! such a 
thing is even worse than weighing a trout. By the 
shortest strides that would satisfy his conscience it 
was only a hundred ana eignty yards. The ball had 
fallen about three feet, about its natural drop for that 
distance. Had he been right in his estimate of dis- 
tance it would have fallen about sixteen feet. 

It is rare that you can thus utilize errors, making 
them counteract each other. But you can make a 
far better use of them. That is, study them. Study 
them — 

ist. To see whether they really be errors or not. 

2d. To learn how to avoid them. 

In no way will you learn as much as by doing this. 
If there be anything that makes this book of any 
value, if there be any soundness of principle in it, any 
thoroughness and carefulness of analysis, any clear ex- 
position of mistakes that will be likely to entrap the 
beginner, anything new or unwritten about before, it 
is due solely to two facts: 



390 ' THE STILL-HUNTER. 

ist. That I have stumbled over nearly every error 
that it is possible for one to encounter, 

2d. That I have studied those errors in a way that 
not one in a thousand has either the humility of soul 
or the patience to do. 



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